292 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



he refused to be comforted until his sons had gone 

 forth to verify his dream. In due time they came 

 home with enough evidence that the dream was of 

 true things to allow the old man to give up the ghost 

 with an untroubled mind. 



f + - 



The partridge at Christmas is at his best as a test of 

 reputations. In this respect there is a world of differ- 

 ence between the slow, simple yellow-legged 

 Christ- kj rc i o f September and the partridge of 

 Sport December. To bag a brace from a Septem- 

 ber covey is satisfactory to a sportsman. 

 To get a bird with each barrel at an October drive is 

 no mean thing. But to bring off a double event at 

 Christmas partridges is to make a reputation. And 

 it is to experience a feeling of goodwill towards the 

 whole world. For Christmas and cold hands excuse a 

 multitude of misses. 



The birds whirl over the line of guns like brown 

 clusters of bullets. And if the sportsman is tested, 

 the gamekeeper's reputation hangs also in the balance ; 

 his highest art is called for if he is to drive birds in 

 the desired direction. Whether or not his birds have 

 been much harassed by previous driving makes a 

 difference to his chances. Success will be appreciated, 

 for sportsmen keenly relish a selected partridge drive 

 as a foretaste to a pheasant shoot. When the drive 

 is over and the pheasants' turn has come, they feel in 

 slightly faster but certainly smoother water. 



