Partridges Protection. 101 



Thus in the old pastures the mark might be placed fifteen 

 yards to the right of each nest, in the clovers an equal 

 distance to the left. Before the field is mown the keeper 

 can, of course, mark out each nest distinctly ; meanwhile, 

 the sticks prove no guide to egg-stealers, &c. 



The proper time for bushing fields must depend upon the 

 crops growing in them. In barley fields the bushing must be 

 done as soon as the crop has been rolled, oats the same, wheat 

 immediately when sown. For these, brambles are the best 

 to employ, because when cut green and stuck in the earth 

 either end first they continue to grow, and being of the same 

 colour as the corn are almost unobservable. Turnips need 

 only be bushed after they are hand-hoed for the last time ; 

 fallow land and stubbles, whenever birds lie or visit them. 



Before closing this chapter we would repeat that the 

 preservation of partridges differs very largely from that 

 of other game, being dependent on the one hand on the 

 ever watchful care of the gamekeeper over his birds and 

 the destruction of vermin ; and on the other, to the cordiality 

 of relations between class and class which is so necessary 

 and delightful a feature of rural life. 



