196 THE KEEPERS BOOK 



soil is ideal for partridges, so that for a first-class par- 

 tridge shoot we must look to England or the fertile 

 parts of south-east Scotland. They require arable 

 land, which is fast going out of cultivation, and a certain 

 amount of rough waste ground on the fringes of the 

 arable. A new danger seems to have developed, which 

 some say accounts for the scarcity of partridges in dis- 

 tricts where they were once plentiful, that is, the higher 

 cultivation of land, and the great increase in the use of 

 artificial manures. As against the increased fertility of 

 the land, partridges as a sport must take their chance 

 and come second. In many districts in England it has 

 been noticed that dead birds have been found to con- 

 tain arsenic in their crops. How do we account for this ? 

 It looks as if the only source can be the artificial manures 

 which are used for keeping up the fertility of the land. 

 If this be the case, there is no remedy. Another con- 

 tributory cause, in some cases, is the number of rats on 

 the estate, which vermin are undoubtedly severe on 

 eggs. May it not be that the destruction of hawks, 

 stoats, and weasels by the keeper, with the best inten- 

 tions, has allowed the balance of nature to increase in 

 favour of the rats, which are usually kept down by 

 those other vermin. One other serious factor in this 

 connection is the trapping of rabbits in the open by 

 farmers in summer around the young corn. A large 

 number of pheasants and partridges are undoubtedly 

 killed in this way, so that, the eggs and young being left 

 without a protector, a large shortage in stock is bound 



