SEPT. PARTRIDGE- SHOOTING. 283 



CHAPTER XX. 



SEPTEMBER. 



The 1st of September — Partridge-shooting — Migratory Birds — 

 Grouse -shooting in September — Widgeon — Jack-snipes; 

 Breeding places of — Landrail — White variety of the Eagle — 

 Sea - trout fisher — Stag's horns — Deer-stalking — Cunning of 

 Deer — Disappointed in getting a Shot. 



The 1st of September is by no means so marked a 

 day with sportsmen in the north as it is witli those 

 in the southern parts of the kingdom. I well re- 

 member the eager haste with which, when a boy, 

 I used to sally forth at the earliest dawn to wage 

 war on the partridges. The birds, however, at that 

 hour, are restless and on the alert, the ground is 

 wet, and the sport unsatisfactory ; and in fact no 

 one, I believe, who can number more than sixteen 

 summers ever got up at three o'clock to shoot 

 partridges without repenting his undue activity 

 before mid-day. 



In this country very little of the corn is cut at 

 the commencement of September, and I never at- 

 tempt to shoot more partridges than I may happen 

 to want for the larder. As long as the fields are 

 covered with standing corn the only way is to hunt 



