THE PARTRIDGE. 155 



GOOD WEATHER. 



In fair weather, partridges will be found out in the stubble, clo- 

 ver, or corn-fields, near to a hedge or some other cover. If a 

 buckwheat-patch be in the neighborhood, it must of course be 

 visited; for if there be any birds in those parts, they will most 

 likely be about this field in preference to all others. As we have 

 stated before, they are very partial to this kind of grain. Par- 

 tridges generally feed until eleven or twelve o'clock, and are then 

 either quiescent for an hour or two, or resort to some favorite 

 watering-place or gravelly bank, where they scratch and pick 

 themselves while basking in the sun. We have often found them, 

 at this time, on the sunny side of the trunk of a fallen tree, in a 

 fresh clearing, and always make it a point to hunt around all such 

 places, more particularly if a purling stream should be in the 

 vicinity. 



HINTS FOR THE SPORTSMAN. 



It behooves the shooter at this hour of the day to desist foi a 

 while from his labors, and refresh himself as well as his dogs with 

 a little quiet and a small snack of something to eat and drink. 

 He need not be fearful of wasting time by this trifling suspension 

 of his sport, as both himself and dogs will hunt with more vigor 

 and energy after this truce, and the birds will have had time to 

 collect together their scattered forces, ready for another onset, 

 provided he should retrace his steps over the morning's grounds. 

 Fresh birds will also have left their watering-places, and be busily 

 occupied in the stubble-fields feeding. A selfish disposition is to 

 be despised in any one ; but when it occupies a large space in the 

 heart of a sporting character, it is more frequently and disgust- 

 ingly displayed than in any other person: at least, such is our 

 opinion of the matter ; and when a shooter has such a wild furor for 

 killing birds that he cannot remain quiet for half an hour during 

 this period of the day, or suffer his faithful dogs to snatch a few 

 moments of respite from their arduous duties, but, on the contrary, 



