PARTRIDGE DRIVING 183 



&c., which, with the keeping down of vermin, 

 means a great deal. In former days, before driving 

 became, as it now is, general on most estates, what 

 few partridges could be got at were killed walking 

 in September, and if they did not happen to be 

 very plentiful, nobody minded. Now, with most 

 shooters extremely fond of driving, matters are 

 very different, and doubtless the improvement will 

 continue. 



Talking of walking partridges reminds me that one 

 of the best places possible for this game is Escrick 

 Park, near York, where in 1896 I remember that, 

 shooting for ten days, a party of four guns, of 

 whom I was one, got 2008 birds, which means the 

 splendid average for walking of more than 200 

 partridges a day. The great trouble in driving 

 partridges is to get men who can work them suc- 

 cessfully, as very few keepers seem to understand 

 the game properly, and will not get out their 

 flankers right, or will at any rate do something 

 intensely foolish or boring : nothing is more aggra- 

 vating than to see lots of birds breaking away 

 either to the right or left instead of coming over 

 the guns. To a man who will only use intelligence, 

 the task set is not so very difficult, provided the 

 wind does not happen to be blowing adversely, for 

 nobody can get partridges to go in any numbers 

 up wind ; but, like a great general, a high-class and 

 clever keeper at this game is seldom to be found, 

 and in many years' shooting I have met only with 

 four or five. To manage grouse seems to me more 



