ROUGH SHOOTING 291 



young partridge — the hedgehog. Many are of 

 opinion that the hedgehog is harmless, but this idea 

 I have proved to be erroneous (see " Over Turf and 

 Stubble * — " The Hedgehog a Game-eater "). 



My life has been spent following up the sports 

 of the field and observing the habits of different 

 animals. 



The better way is, when your birds are young, 

 to have them on your lawn, or in a field close to 

 the house. 



The coops must be closed at night, to keep vermin 

 and cats (deadly poachers) from getting at them. 

 It is a mistake to let them out too early of a morn- 

 ing. The drier the ground the better partridges do 

 when young. As they get stronger, remove them 

 with their coops to a potato or clover field, cutting 

 a swarth through the latter to put the coops on and 

 feed them. Place the coops twenty or thirty yards 

 apart, or the birds, when young, will be straying 

 into the wrong coops, and the hens will kill them, 

 for they well know their own family. 



I like a clover-field the best, because there is lots 

 of cover, and they escape the sharp eye of hawks 

 and other vermin. 



In taking a partridge manor, ascertain first, by 

 going over it yoiirsclf, if there is a fair head of 

 breeding stock on the ground. 



