PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING 231 



and not with any view to his improvement 

 an event of far too common occurrence 

 you are distinctly not fit to have a dog 

 at all. 



The shooting season is not the time 

 to train dogs ; if the keeper has been at 

 the pains to handle his young dog for 

 even half an hour a day through spring 

 and summer, working away quite quietly 

 with an old glove or a handkerchief, when 

 the autumn comes the dog will be ready 

 to step straight into his proper place as a 

 useful and trustworthy member of the 

 shooting party. 



Personally I must confess to having a 

 strong aversion to shooting partridges 

 under a kite at any time ; it somehow 

 seems that one is taking an unfair advan- 

 tage in enlisting such adventitious aid to 

 one's own efforts. When birds must be 

 had for the pot and it is then that the 

 use of the kite is often recommended 

 they are surely never so wild that a few 

 brace cannot be got by some happy com- 

 bination of driving, walking, and stalking. 



