200 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



shooting can be equal to that which you have been 

 enjoying this first of September. 



The English partridge (not that this bird is, like 

 the grouse, peculiar to the British Isles) is the only 

 one which can be satisfactorily walked up or worked 

 with dogs. The red-legged variety, or " Frenchman," 

 which is unfortunately increasing greatly in England 

 to the detriment of the old British bird, is equally 

 unfavourably known by its persistent habit of running, 

 and by its want of flavour when on the table. Of 

 course, for driving, the former fault does not matter. 

 I have shot other varieties of partridges in many 

 lands, but all shared these two defects. In India 

 there are many kinds of partridge, from the magni- 

 ficent black partridge to the common gray bird (not 

 unlike our British one), which many people will not 

 eat because they accuse it of being a scavenger. The 

 only way to get foreign partridge on the wing is to 

 walk steadily after them till they pass a large bush, a 

 rock, or other accident de terrain. Then by running 

 rapidly round it the opposite way to that the birds 

 have gone you will inevitably meet them at the other 

 side, and they will be sure to rise. 



# # # =& * * 



Smith and I were down on Exmoor for stag-hunting, 

 but we found the time hang rather heavy on our 

 hands on off-days. So we began to make inquiries 

 as to shooting. The landlord of the little inn we were 

 staying at told us he thought he knew of some we 



