58 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



attributed largely to their increasing numbers. 

 Even as it is easier to approach within range of 

 a single wood-pigeon or a feeding rabbit than a 

 crowd of either, so is it easier to come within shot 

 of small lots of partridges, few and far between, 

 with this difference : you are watching the pigeons 

 or rabbits, which probably cannot see you, while in 

 the pursuit of partridges matters are reversed. This 

 comparative tameness of partridges that are few 

 goes to show with what discretion shooting should 

 be regulated in a bad year. For, by reason of 

 their approachability, any birds that have managed 

 to survive are certain to suffer out of all proportion 

 to their numbers. 



The ' towered ' bird continues to give rise to 

 interesting speculation among shooting-men. Some 

 say it is hit in the lungs, and others in the head. 

 But the bird struck in the head, although it may 

 rise to a fair height, is not a genuine towerer, often 

 glides down with outstretched wings, and is liable 

 to get up again. It is pretty generally conceded 

 that a towering bird goes up and up to get air, 

 and dies in the air at the moment its descent begins. 

 To get air means to breathe more easily, and 

 probably the reason why the bird has difficulty in 

 breathing, yet can fly, is that it is being drowned 

 in an inverted fashion in its own blood ; that is 

 to say, it has received a wound which causes blood 

 to escape into its breathing mechanism. When the 



