THE PARTRIDGE 201 



Second, which is a result in part of the first, there is a 

 good deal more egg-stealing and poaching than there 

 should be. Third, the stock, being low, is too much re- 

 duced by hard shooting." In dwelling on these facts 

 this writer selects a particular shooting, " The Grange," 

 to illustrate how the partridge stock may be improved, 

 and dwells at length on some of the practices observed. 

 " The high average maintained at The Grange is due 

 to a combination of ... conditions (favourable) and 

 the system on which the keeper's work is conducted ; 

 and it is here that I think a lesson may be learned by 

 other owners and keepers. First and foremost, the latter 

 are taught to treat partridges, and not pheasants, as the 

 first consideration. Partridges require a better and 

 more watchful keeper than pheasants. The old-fashioned 

 system of leaving partridges to take care of themselves 

 in the nesting season, while your keepers are devoting 

 themselves exclusively to the pheasantry and the coops, 

 must be abandoned. Everything must be done to 

 watch and thwart egg-stealers and poachers. To arrive 

 at this, it follows that the whereabouts of every, or nearly 

 every, nest must be known, and these must be watched and 

 visited practically every day." 



The rule which we have printed in italics must 

 serve as the basis of the keeper's conduct. In no 

 other way will he be able to attain to satisfactory 

 results. To those who have become accustomed to 

 the go-as-you-please philosophy, this may seem at first 

 an irksome addition to their day's work, but we are 



