PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING 69 



without the guns having long waits ; to which there 

 might be objection on the score of expense, or 

 absence of a reliable commander for a second gang 

 of drivers, to say nothing of the fact that the extent 

 of ground or the supply of partridges probably 

 both render driving with two sets of beaters 

 absurd. In any circumstances double driving must 

 be very well managed, or all sorts of complications 

 are more than likely to occur. A short drive late 

 in the season may be successful occasionally, as 

 when birds are known to be in a field of luxuriant 

 cover, but to make a general practice of short 

 drives after early October is to court failure. You 

 will not even see half the birds which are on the 

 ground, for either the guns going to their stands or 

 the beaters getting round will put up prematurely 

 most of the birds that already have not departed on 

 legs or wings. 



It fell to my lot a few years ago to be driving 

 partridges on ground that was rather cut up and lay 

 awkwardly. The day high wind and rain was 

 dead against the results possible on the same ground 

 in better weather. I began with a down-wind drive 

 about half a mile long off some bare fields, on three 

 sides of which were boundaries, so there was not 

 much in the way of an alternative. A good lot of 

 birds, like brown pebbles from a mighty sling, went 

 well, though I could not see them reach the guns 

 for rain. I was informed when the drive was over 



