130 SPORT IN EUROPE 



In one department of France, Corsica, the sportsman can find good 



sport with both rod and gun, but the country is difficult to travel in, 



and only the coast can be exploited. • The flights of 



P . woodcock and other migratory birds are very large, but 



every Corsican carries a gun, and the number of those 

 who shoot is immense. A friend of mine, who tried several parts of 

 the island, tells me that he had only one really good day, and that was 

 in a district where, on the occasion of a wedding party, all the country- 

 folk were invited to take part. 



Shooting over dogs, then, is widespread over France, but the 

 owners of the larger preserves have almost without exception adopted 



the battue. Partridge driving has become the favourite 



Partridge , ^ , • 1 1 



q. . sport, and some parts 01 the country, particularly 



Beauce, between Orleans and Chartres, are admirably 

 adapted to such battues. There are vast plains, scarcely undulating, 

 broken by a few little patches of wood, specially planted to afford 

 cover for the partridges and preserve them from birds of prey, such 

 as hawks, buzzards and the like. So full of game are these plains, 

 although anything but adequately guarded against poachers, that I 

 may mention a shooting, over four or five farms, on which, in 

 September, 1898, twenty guns bagged close on 3,000 partridges in 

 two days. It must be difficult for the foreign sportsman visiting- 

 France to ascertain where he would find good game country, and I 

 would suggest his applying for exact information to the Moniteu7' 

 Officiel de r Union des SociHes de Ckassetws de France, 11, Rue de 

 I'Abbe Fleury, Argenteuil, Seine et Oise. This Society, of which 

 I have the honour to be the President, is in constant communication 



