54 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



were twenty years ago. Then, if one marked a 

 covey down, and went straight for it, oftener than 

 not the birds would lie within easy range, even 

 when there was no cover. In the early days of 

 September birds would lie well on stubble, while 

 of late years it has been hopeless to expect any 

 shooting to speak of by walking up birds on stubble. 

 You may mark a dozen coveys, and are lucky if 

 you get within shot of one of them. I remember 

 one day, a few years ago, on which we expected to 

 make a good bag, walking. It was the sixth of 

 September ; there were a good lot of birds, and not 

 a shot had been fired at them ; five guns and six 

 men to walk between them. There was not much 

 cover, it is true, but quite enough to bag a reasonable 

 number of birds for one day. It had rained heavily 

 during the earlier part of the morning, and though 

 it stopped before we began shooting, the weather 

 was sullen all day. Off the first large field, some 

 thirty acres of stubble, we flushed quite a hundred 

 birds not one of them within a hundred yards. 

 And so things went on ; and, if I remember rightly, 

 not a shot had been fired at a bird within forty 

 yards when it was decided to do what we could by 

 impromptu driving. 



Of course, anyone who understands the habits of 

 partridges knows that a combination of wet, cold, 

 and wind makes them uncomfortable and extra 

 wild, probably making the bag only half what it 



