CHAPTER X 



THE PARTRIDGE 



OF the many services rendered to sport by Mr. Stuart 

 Wortley, none can be valued more highly than the con- 

 tinued emphasis he has laid upon the fact of how 

 neglectful has been the general attitude of the owner, 

 tenant, and keeper in regard to the rearing and the 

 preservation of partridges. Mr. Wortley, in discussing 

 this important question, finds the explanation of the fact 

 in the recognition of the pheasant as having the primary, 

 often the only, claim to attention. Where pheasants are 

 reared to any great extent, this is notoriously true, but 

 there are other conditions, especially in Scotland, which 

 have acted to the detriment of the breeding and protec- 

 tion of partridges. In the Highlands of Scotland the 

 partridge has become almost a negligible quantity, not 

 from any choice on the part of landlord or sporting 

 tenant, but from the fact that the stock is so compara- 

 tively small that it is almost disregarded. The wet 

 climate in the Highlands and West of Scotland, it must 

 be admitted, is against the partridge doing well. The 

 soil is too barren, and in many cases too heavy. A 



warm, sunny exposure, with a small rainfall and light 



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