264 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



caused by a misunderstanding of mutual interests. Outside 

 the Shires, and perhaps Cheshire and Warwickshire, hunting 

 could not exist without the game preserver ; and outside East 

 Anglia and the grouse moors game could not exist without 

 foxes, more especially partridges could not, at least not for 

 long. 



It is quite a mistake to suppose that grey partridges are 

 interfered with by the red legs ; of course, where dogs are 

 used, red legs are not a blessing, but everywhere else they 

 appear to greatly increase the sport. The two varieties often 

 nest side by side, but the grey partridge cock would not 

 tolerate any such proximity from his own species, so that the 

 simp^st plan of making two partridges grow on one acre is 

 to have both sorts. 



Straying away, in the winter and the spring, from cold or 

 high ground, is a great and objectionable habit of partridges. 

 On some estates nothing seems able to prevent it. In such 

 cases the French penning system described in the previous 

 chapter seems to be made on purpose. 



The driving of partridges in flat country is very much more 

 easy than grouse driving, on account of the hedges. They 

 hide the beaters and the guns from view as both go to their 

 places for short drives. But these same hedges often prevent 

 proper flanking for long drives, and there are a thousand 

 pitfalls ready for the inexperienced driver of partridges to 

 fall into. Of course the chief factor in all driving plans is the 

 wind, if there is any. Success generally comes to those whose 

 minds and plans are the most flexible ; for a plan that would 

 be best one day would almost certainly be the worst upon 

 another. 



In a short chapter on partridges in general it would be 

 obviously impossible to go into the minute details of driving, 

 or to specify as many of the pitfalls as have come to the 

 author's notice. Broad principles briefly stated are all he has 

 space for, and really almost everything else alters with the 

 locality. First it is necessary to drive the birds with a view 

 to their concentration. That is to say, every drive should be 



