PARTRIDGE SHOOTING. 197 



It was now near noon, and after pausing to 

 refresh ourselves at a spring, we debated the 

 propriety of fleeting away an hour or two in a 

 sunny hollow out of the wind, and although the 

 vote was unanimous to keep quiet until the birds 

 had returned to the stubbles, yet such is the 

 restless desire to keep moving, which a man im- 

 bibes in the marshes, that the decision was soon 

 reversed with equal unanimity, and resuming 

 our guns, we pushed on. 



We will now take occasion to observe to the 

 general reader, that at this hour of the day the 

 birds are most difficult to find, each covey hav- 

 ing retired to some out of the way part of the 

 farm which it inhabits, where it lies in a com- 

 paratively small compass, basking, pruning and 

 dusting, precisely like chickens in the barnyard 

 or garden on a sunny day, after their crops are 

 filled. 



The flight of the partridge from the stubbles, 

 or the drinking-place, is generally direct to the 

 pruning place, so that the dogs can find no clue 

 to the spot, though, occasionally, a sagacious 

 animal, falling back upon his experience, will 

 lead directly to the haunt. This is either on 

 the edge of a copse of young trees, in which the 

 sun's ray penetrates under the lee of a gravelly 

 13 



