PABTEIDGES.] 



SHOOTING, 



[PAETEIDttE SHOOTING. 



a sharper key than that of the female. Natu- 

 ralists have noticed that the two birds have 

 various notes or cries, as if to distinguish their 

 several states or conditions, as to safety, food, 

 or danger. When they settle down in the 

 evening, their juclcing is well known. Mr. 

 Lascelles tells us that he has often watched 

 their movements, and listened to their cries 

 for hours ; and always observed the male bird 

 even more solicitous, in appearance at least, 

 than the female, for the provision and protec- 

 tion of the brood. This care, however, is left 

 to the female as soon as the birds are able to 

 fly. Even then her watchfulness continues, 

 and, indeed, seems increased. She is never 

 far from them, but searches for food for them, 

 and takes them abroad to their scratching- 

 ground ; and when they seem tired, she gathers 

 them all around her with great care. When 

 they are about their full size, or within a third 

 of her own bulk, they are left, in a great mea- 

 sure, to shift for themselves. 



PARTRIDGE SHOOTING. 



There is no sport in which the gun is em- 

 ployed as the instrument of amusement, so 

 fully and so universally practised as the shoot- 

 ing of partridges. It is more homely and 

 domestic than moor shooting; and can be 

 enjoyed by those whose strength and age 

 render them less capable of pursuing sports 

 requiring greater physical exertion. The suc- 

 cessful prosecution of it must, necessarily, vary 

 with the numerous circumstances under which 

 it is enjoyed. If a sportsman has a limited 

 estate with which he is well acquainted ; if he 

 has himself taken great care of his coveys of 

 birds ; knows their haunts, their times of feed- 

 ing, and resting ; if his enclosures are small, 

 and well fitted for the birds taking short 

 flights ; if these, and many more minute and 

 favourable matters fall to his lot, his sport may, 

 ceteris paribus, be reasonably expected to be 

 much superior to what a mere stranger to the 

 locality would find. There are scarcely any 

 two shooting grounds, or any two sportsmen, 

 that can fairly be put on a par with each 

 other, in all their diversified characters ; there- 

 fore it is that so many varied accounts are 

 found of the sport, and so many different ad- 

 ventures encountered in its prosecution. Every 

 shooter has a history or tale of his own to tell ; 

 5i2 



he has joys and sorrows with which strangers 

 do not interfere ; and he lives and moves in a 

 little world of his own creating. 



Distinguished sportsmen inform us, that the 

 footing of partridges, though a very requisite 

 qualification in pointers, is one of the last 

 things that should be expected from them, as 

 they are not to be relied on until they fully 

 comprehend from the sportsman that they are 

 not to catch the bird ; and that they are only 

 required to point out where it is. It is well 

 known that partridges will generally lie closer 

 and better to dogs that toind them, than to 

 such as track them. The reason assigned for 

 this is, that when they are winded, the dogs 

 do not go straightforward towards them, but 

 follow the scent left by their devious course. 

 AVhen birds see dogs tracking their footsteps 

 down the wind, they will fly ofi", for their scent 

 cannot be caught by the dog till he is near 

 them. Another matter is of some importance 

 in commencing partridge shooting in Septem- 

 ber; and that is, that dogs brought imme- 

 diately from the moors, and put upon the 

 hunting of the partridge, are in many instances, 

 for some days, unfit for their duty, till they are 

 again hroken-in to their new task. The hunt- 

 ino- of grouse in the moors is altogether a 

 difterent operation from the work to be done 

 in the fields in September. A dog that is 

 really well trained will soon find himself at 

 home in both occupations ; but when this is not 

 the case, there will always be more or less of dis- 

 appointment experienced from the sudden tran- 

 sition from two such opposite conditions of life. 

 It has been recommended, that to be early 

 in the field is necessary for any one who desires 

 to secure a good day's sport at partridge 

 shooting; but here Colonel Hawker steps in 

 and says, " that he never saw much execution 

 done before breakfast." To this it has been 

 replied — " True ; but without putting ourselves 

 to the expense of sending two or three sturdy 

 fellows to warn ofi" intruders, if the birds have 

 escaped being killed by that time, they are 

 certainly dispersed abroad ; and the advantage 

 of our knowing their feeding and basking 

 grounds is nullified." However this may be, 

 we believe it is a general opinion amongst the 

 experienced that the colonel is correct. If it 

 were possible to take anything like an accurate 

 census of the success of sportsmen in partridge 



