PARTRIDGE SHOOTING 



might be taken if you could meet the birds ' in the face the 

 way they fly ' : in which case the sportsman took ' the under- 

 most and shot slaunt-wise through them.' 



A century before Mr. Sprint's time the law ' had enacted 

 that partridges, pheasants, grouse, and hares might not be 

 killed with a gun at all. Discriminating legislators realised 

 that marksman and matchlock made a combination too deadly 

 where sitting game was the mark, and forbade shooting 

 altogether, whether with gun, crossbow, or other weapon. 



The ' setting dog ' and hawk, the stalking horse or the 

 setting dog and net formed the proper means of taking game, 

 and these methods remained in favour long after men began 

 to shoot flying. With hawking we do not here deal : as regards 

 netting Nicolas Cox - gives instructions how to set about the 

 business. First you had to ascertain where a covey might be 

 found : as a preliminary the sportsman mastered the call of 

 the bird : — 



' Being perfect herein, either Mornings or Evenings (all 

 other times being improper) go to their Haunts, and ha\'ing 

 conveyed yourself into some secret place where you may see 

 and not be seen, listen a while if you can hear the Partridges 

 call ; if you can answer them again in the Same Note, and as 

 they change or double their Notes, so must you in like manner ; 

 thus continue doing until they draw nearer and nearer unto 

 you. Having them in your view, lay your self on your back, and 

 lie as if you were dead without motion, by which means you 

 may count their whole number. 



' Having attained to the knowledge of discovering them 

 where they lie, the next thing will be a ready way how to catch 

 them.' 



Cox held ' the Driving of Partridges ' more delightful than 

 any other method. This involved the use of an engine made in 

 form and fashion of a horse cut out of canvas and stuffed with 

 straw or similar material. Equipped with this artificial 

 horse and his nets the sportsman sought partridges where, by 



■ 1 Jac, c. 27, § 2 (1C03-4). - The Gentleman's Recreation, 1686. 



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