QUIET PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING 



For the average active Englishman " walking up " birds 

 is an excellent pastime, giving as it does a fair amount 

 of healthy exercise, with plenty of opportunity for 

 shooting skill. ** Half- mooning," if scientifically 

 carried out, is a fascinating form of sport. Not only 

 do the guns forming the points of the half-moon get their 

 share of sport, but those birds passed by the widely 

 extended horns rise at length, break back, and often 

 afford magnificent shooting to the men composing the 

 base of the figure. 



But, after all, "driving " is the sport that nowadays, 

 as in grouse-shooting, seems to appeal to the greatest 

 happiness of the greatest number. First practised, 

 it is believed, only some five-and-forty years ago, 

 partridge-driving has rapidly gained an immense hold 

 on the shooting public. It has, admittedly, many and 

 great fascinations : it appeals to every instinct of eye 

 and hand ; and the man who can account for driven 

 partridges featly and well, may reckon himself good 

 enough to shoot anything. On a dry, clear day of 

 autumn, with the warm, lingering touch of autumnal 

 sunshine upon the air, when the crisp leaves lie lightly 

 upon the sward, the blackberry sprays are full of 

 crimson, and the pearly dew glistens upon every stem 

 of grass, then, as you stand behind your hedgerow 

 prepared for action, life seems to be very well worth 

 living. And if you are good enough to stop your 

 share of the brown, short-winged forms that skim 

 whirring through the clear, still air, whether approach- 

 ing or going away from you, then, having done your 

 duty by your gun and your host's partridges, you may 

 go home well content. In these days, when invention 

 follows upon the heels of invention, the sportsman can, 

 at all events, have but little to complain of in the 

 matter of guns and gun gear. Smokeless powders 

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