SEPTEMBER 191 



The present generation has witnessed a radical 

 change in the method of partridge shooting, which, 

 while it has divested the sport of its pristine leisurely 

 charm, certainly has this advantage, that birds of the 

 year are allowed to reach full maturity of growth and 

 plumage before they are brought to bag. On none of 

 the best partridge manors is ' The First ' such an im- 

 portant anniversary as it was of yore. The sickle, 

 recognised from the days of the Pyramids as the 

 orthodox implement of harvest, used to leave a fine 

 rough stubble, in which the birds harboured so closely 

 as to allow themselves to be found by dogs. Many 

 persons still living may remember when the scythe 

 was considered a great innovation, cutting much 

 closer than the sickle, and imparting a novel and 

 corresponding nervousness to the game. But the 

 scythe was only the brief precursor of the more drastic 

 reaping-machine, whereof the advent put an end to 

 the vocation of silky-haired setters and satin-coated 

 pointers. Henceforth stubbles hardly afforded cover 

 for a field-mouse, and shooters could only be brought 

 within range of their game by driving the birds into 

 green crops, where they were walked up in line. 



The monotony of this proceeding soon brought it 

 into disfavour, and, about the year 1875, the method of 

 driving the birds over the guns, concealed behind a 

 high fence, was borrowed from the grouse moor. The 

 chief results of this have been to concentrate into a 

 few arduous days the sport that used to serve a succes- 

 sion of parties throughout the season, to increase 

 enormously the number of birds shot in a single day, 



