192 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



slow, as a rule, is the landrail in heading away, 

 after its silent rising from sainfoin or clover, 

 that we have seen one bagged by a thrown stick, 

 another knocked down by a keeper's partridge- 

 carrier, as he held it in his hand, and another caught 

 on the wing by a dog ; of course this is nothing un- 

 common. We have even seen a terrier point and 

 pounce on a landrail that was crouching beneath its 

 nose. But when a fair wind is blowing, the slow 

 landrail becomes as difficult a mark to hit as a snipe 

 or a woodcock. And a landrail has a disappointing 

 habit of dropping when it comes to a hedge, for all 

 the world like a dead bird, though very much alive. 



Sportsmen may find partridge-shooting among 

 shocks of uncarried corn more interesting than shoot- 



ing over a bare expanse of barren stubble. 

 Sport The shocks or stooks help to mark the birds, 

 thje id a li ve or dead ; and they cause them to rise 

 Shocks to a convenient height, so that they show 



sharp and clear against the sky, instead of 

 skimming away low against the baffling tints of the 

 autumn fields. And birds seem to lie better among 

 stooks than on bare stubble. They cannot see well 

 or far among the stooks, and they like to linger in the 

 dusting-places that they make in sheltered, sunny 

 spots. Another point worth mentioning is less 

 obvious but none the less true the stooks help the 

 eye in aiming. It always seems easier to hit a 



