sport Forty Years Ago and To-day 23 



come up at their leisure. Another thing to be noted, too, 

 is that partridges seem to have only one idea in their 

 heads at a time, and they watch what first alarms them, 

 taking little notice of anything else. They keep watching 

 the dog, therefore, and do not notice anyone approaching, 

 if he comes quietly, until he is close up to them. 



Of the other form of partridge shooting, viz., walking 

 them up in line, I have little to say. It is a poor form of 

 sport. There is too much noise and hurry. It lacks the 

 skill in using the gun required in " driving," and the 

 element of hunting shown in using dogs. It has only 

 one redeeming point, viz., it has the charm of congenial 

 society, and — is better than staying indoors. 



It is " Society," no doubt, that has brought in the 

 modern forms of partridge shooting, to the exclusion of 

 setters. A badly broken pointer is a great nuisance. 

 Few keepers are good " dog men," while most owners have 

 other things to do, and have little time for training their 

 own dogs. It is the fashion of the ordinary sporting 

 writer to attribute the disuse of setters to the bare-shorn 

 stubbles ; but, good gracious ! who on earth wants to shoot 

 partridges solely in stubbles ! ! I don't suppose that at 

 any time they killed many there, except when they shot 

 them on the ground as they were feeding, which was 

 frequently the case in the first half of the last century. 

 Even at the beginning of this one this was not an unknown 

 custom. But when once the practice of shooting birds 

 flying came in fashion, and root crops became common, the 

 stubbles were sought to find the birds in ; while they were 

 shot in the turnips or other covert. Even now, scattered 

 birds will sometimes drop in a stubble field, and lie well 

 there, but this is not what the sporting writer refers to. 



