PAETKIDGE SHOOTING. 71 



covers, the fern of heaths and warrens, and cole-seed 

 patches, and the long white grass of young planta- 

 tions. This latter is very attractive, from the seeds 

 and insects with which it abounds. In storms and 

 fogs partridges lie very close, and in fine days which 

 follow storms. Heavy rains cause them to lie ex- 

 tremely close in turnips ; and, therefore, as well as 

 for many other reasons, it is not favourable for sport. 

 So much for the prose details of our sport : we will 

 sum up with a touch of the poetical, from the pen of 

 Colonel Hawker, the Magnus Apollo of young sports- 

 men: " If birds are wild, a sportsman who goes out 

 with his man, and has no other attendant, will bring 

 in more game, if he contrives to mount that man, or 

 rather a light boy, behind him ; because the moment 

 the dog stands, he can then dismount (by throwing 

 the right leg over the horse's neck), and leave the 

 man in full possession, of the Rosinante, instead of 

 being encumbered with a led horse, which frequently 

 precludes the possibility of his gallopping on to mark 

 a covey, or follow up a towering bird. Moreover, it 

 requires no conjuror to discover that two horses make 

 more noise than one ; and all noise, after the first few 

 weeks, is the ruin of sport. The gentleman with his 

 stud, would say ' Why not have three horses ? ' 

 This, I admit, is a more dignified way of taking the 

 field, than the subaltern turn-out of the Johnny Trot 

 behind ; but then we have the clatter of three horses, 

 with the clatter of two servants' tongues, an increase 

 of noise that would set the birds on the run ; and it 



