282 PARTRIDGES 



in which to undertake to inaugurate a 

 novel and difficult practice ; a conscious- 

 ness of one's own ignorance at the outset 

 is essential to any real progress, and if 

 the beginner be only honest with him- 

 self, he will be surprised how often he 

 can bring the failures home to his own 

 door. 



Of course there are times when things 

 will go wrong in spite of the best-laid 

 plans ; how bitter the disappointment, 

 then, to the right sort of keeper when 

 he sees the weather taking charge, and 

 all control passing from his hands, let 

 one instance serve to show. It was an 

 October day in a northern county ; the 

 estate was small, but the outlook hopeful 

 for a grand day with the partridges, for 

 the dispositions were beyond reproach, 

 the beaters intelligent and skilfully 

 handled, the guns well placed, and the 

 very boundary fences had been carefully 

 'flagged' their whole length with old 

 newspapers. But no sooner was the 

 sport fairly begun than the wind rose 



