34 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



many of the birds that did not break sideways 

 pitched in it again. If all my five guns had been 

 useful, our two double-rowed partridge-carriers 

 would have been full before we reached the end 

 of that strip of grass. The most exciting episode 

 was when there were seven birds down, five of 

 which proved to be runners and we got them all. 

 Another incident of note was the * browning ' of a 

 big covey which rose out of fair range. Three birds 

 more or less ' towered ' after flying some distance 

 apparently untouched. We had finished the rye- 

 grass for the time being, and lunch would be in 

 ten minutes. I advised a d6tour of a couple of 

 hundred yards, which would sweep the scattered 

 birds into the grass, while I searched for the three 

 1 browned ' birds. But no : it was preferred to 

 walk straight ahead, and, as I said, drive most of 

 the birds over the boundary, for the sake of walking 

 an extra two hundred yards. I was almost sorry 

 that I had found the three birds by the time the 

 firing-line returned to tell me quite unnecessarily 

 that they had had only a few shots, but had put 

 a good two hundred partridges over the boundary. 



There was some excitement after lunch, when one 

 of the guns ' cracked his duck/ so to speak, on a 

 cheeper. I believe it was subsequent to the suppres- 

 sion of that cheeper that he got into Parliament and 

 bagged a title. I remember much more distinctly 

 that he left before we had finished shooting ; that I 



