PAUTniDQEs.] BY FIELD, AVOOD, AND WATER, [paetuidoe bhootino 



Bbooting during the niontha of September and 

 October, we think it would ^onernlly be found 

 that the most productive iiours range from 

 eleven till three in the afternoon. Of course 

 general rules of this kind cannot be laid down 

 but with many reservations : wo believe, how- 

 ever, the result of a test of this kind would estab- 

 lish the truth of the point without any doubt. 

 There are other advantages, however, to be 

 realised by the early-rising sportsman, uncon- 

 nected with the capture of game. The habit 

 induces good health, and tends very much to 

 strengthen and preserve it. It has an excellent 

 and sustaining effect on the animal spirits ; and 

 these are by uo means of slight consideration. 

 After the month of October, and from this to 

 the end of the partridge season, we should not 

 insist on being earlier iu the field than about 

 mid-dav ; as, after this period, the weather be- 

 comes lowering in the fore part of the day. 



Both the weather and the season liave a 

 great influence over the birds, as well as the 

 state they themselves have been in, relative to 

 quietness, from previous fowling excursions. 

 The flights they take vary with the nature of 

 the country in which they are bred. "Where 

 the enclosures are small, and the general aspect 

 of the country undulating, short flights are 

 taken ; but, where the fields are large, and the 

 landscape open and level, the birds will often 

 take a mile or two at one flight. 



As a general rule, it might be asserted 

 that a prudent sportsman will not injure his 

 diversion by following tbe birds every day in 

 the same track. Relative to the shooting of 

 partridges in windy weather, too, there is great 

 difference of opinion. The weight of argu- 

 ment, however, seems in favour of those 

 who maintain that this kind of weather is not, 

 upon the whole, favourable to sport. Indeed, 

 when it is boisterous, it can only be favourable 

 under one view, and that is on account of birds 

 not so readily hearing the approach of tlie 

 sportsman. It may likewise be observed, that 

 in a high wind they seem bewildered, and will 

 often lie so close as to afford good sport ; but 

 then it is again found by experience, that for 

 one windy day, when they will lie like stones, 

 they will, other ten days, be as wild as hawks, 

 particularly if there be showers of rain with the 

 wind. In the latter case they generally betake 

 themselves to the woods and to furze ; aud cole- 



seed is said then to entice them. In Ireland, 

 partridges, in a high wind, uniforudy make for 

 the potato fieldH, In weather of this kind, the 

 uportsmau sliould always take tlie windward 

 side of his beat, otherwise ho will run a chanco 

 of driving them ofl' his ground, and into tho 

 hands of other parties who may be abroad on 

 tho same mission as himself. 



In tho practice of mid-day shooting, it may 

 be laid down as a common rule, that, in ordi- 

 narily fine weather, tho birds leave their feed- 

 ing localities about ten o'clock in the month of 

 September, and eleven in October ; but after 

 this period, their movements become less regu- 

 lar, BO that no calculation relative to their 

 movement can be depended on. This has been 

 attributed to tho variable weather to which a 

 Scotch climate is subject, and to which all things 

 living in wood or wilderness must be subser- 

 vient. When there is a rapid succession of 

 rain, sleet, snow, wind, aud sunshine, wo 

 have a variety of disturbing causes operating 

 on both the sportsman and the birds ; there- 

 fore any universal rules must, in such cases, 

 prove almost entirely useless. The stubbles 

 may be tried in mid-day, sometimes with ad- 

 vantage, for the birds do not always leave them 

 for basking grounds. These stubbles are tho 

 principal feeding localities ; and as the day ad- 

 vances, birds are almost sure to be found at one 

 time or another. When birds of prey appear, 

 coveys will often disperse, which is favourable 

 to the sportsman. One bird will perhaps take 

 shelter near a clod of earth ; another will run 

 behind a tuft of grass or a low piece of copse ; 

 and a furze-bush may shelte.- another. Some- 

 times, in the latter end of the season, the par- 

 tridge will be in foul lands— such as are left in a 

 rough state before the agricultural operations 

 of spring commence. 



Among partridges, there are always moro 

 cocks than hens ; and this often tends to check 

 tho breed considerably. The hens are so tor- 

 mented by the numbers of males, that they 

 drop one egg in one place, and another in a 

 different spot. It is said, the best mode to 

 destroy the superabundance of males is, during 

 the first three weeks of the season, to net the 

 covey, and destroy all the old cocks, leaving 

 as many young hens, and even one less ; for 

 it is certainly better that the old hen should 

 1 look for the cock, than a number of cocks run 



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