PARTRIDGES 49 



gourmand can urge against the partridge that on 

 the table it is too small. Even this deficiency it 

 makes ample atonement for in flavour ; while there 

 is no law to prevent anyone eating five brace or 

 more birds at a meal. The only fault which the 

 sportsman finds with the partridge is that it some- 

 times flies too fast. Here the remedy clearly lies 

 with the sportsman. 



Another reason for emphasizing the ever-in- 

 creasing boom in partridges is the recent Land 

 Tenure Act. Although, in common fairness, I have 

 nothing to say against the Act, so long as it is 

 administered by men who understand their business, 

 I am inclined to think there will be bother con- 

 nected with imaginary damage. This must tend to 

 a preference for cheap game of non-destructive 

 habits. I freely admit that it is possible for rabbits, 

 hares, and even pheasants, to commit acts of 

 damage ; but I could put my finger on farmers 

 who, when they claim their damages under the new 

 Act, will find that their banking account is not 

 thereby so much swollen as when they merely 

 'mentioned the matter' to those holding the shooting 

 rights over their farms, and left the assessment to 

 them. For instance, a farmer of my acquaintance 

 was till recently practically in receipt of a useful 

 annuity from the shooting tenant of his farm. This 

 was paid as a little help towards his rent. I am 

 certain, however, that in no single year did the real 



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