RABBITS, PARTRIDGES, PIGEONS 153 



is flushed, makes you tremendously keen. Then 

 the quick snapshots at rabbits going hard in thick 

 spots are great sport, especially when they '*come 

 off." 



On the other hand the right and left, which 

 we so constantly get at walked-up partridges, is 

 an experience comparatively rare in rabbiting in 

 covert. The thing is to go in for both, and never to 

 trouble about which is the better sport of the two. 

 In rabbiting in covert, absolute silence on the part 

 of the guns is not by any means always desirable 

 where the wood is high and thick, and the members 

 of the party cannot well keep in touch with each 

 other except through the voice ; this matter has 

 been touched upon in the warnings contained in 

 the first chapter of ^' Guns." 



But absolute silence is desirable in partridge- 

 shooting. The sound of voices will make the 

 partridges rise wild from their lay, and out of 

 range. Keep quiet, then, whilst you are walking 

 up partridges. 



When a covey rises within range, never fire into 

 the thick or " the brown " of the birds. Choose a 

 particular bird outside ^' the brown," and, if you 

 bring him down with your first barrel, choose 

 another outside for your second, should the covey 

 by then still be within range — forty-five yards or 

 so. If your bird or birds fall, on no account must 

 you rush forward to pick them up. Steady your- 

 self, and reload at once ; there well may be some 

 isolated birds crouching near by in the turnips or 



