236 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



obtaining sport with the birds, which in such cases are 

 usually very wild. I have not the slightest doubt that 

 on these occasions many parties, on going out ostensibly 

 to walk up their game, have found birds so wild and un- 

 approachable that in self-defence the original intention 

 has been abandoned, while impromptu drives have filled up 

 the remainder of the day and the bag at the same time. 

 In partridge-driving it too frequently happens that the 

 guns are dropped here and there, and left to choose such 

 positions as individual fancy dictates. Thus, one sees a 

 ragged line one gun standing perhaps not five yards 

 away from the fence, whilst his next neighbour may be 

 25 yards from such shelter. These irregularities are 

 indefensible, for not only are the risks of shooting un- 

 necessarily increased thereby, but each gunner's difficulties 

 are made immeasurably greater. With a well-kept line, 

 the gunner can gauge the danger area to a nicety ; but 

 with, for instance, the gun on his right hand several 

 yards forward of his position, and the one on his left some 

 distance behind it, a man may well be excused if he fails 

 to shoot up to his proper form. 



There would seem to be a suspicion abroad that the 

 red-legged partridge and the grey partridge are antago- 

 nistic, and that the so-called French partridge, being 

 the stronger and heavier bird, drives away the indigenous 

 species. Still, despite all evidence to this effect, the 

 fact remains that the strikingly handsome foreigner 

 has not been wholly successful in such unworthy en- 

 deavour. Take East Anglia, for instance, where, in 

 certain districts, mixed bags of forty or fifty brace of 

 grey and red-legged birds are obtained in a day on, 

 to all intents and purposes, unpreserved land. There, 

 although the French birds are more abundant than 



