COMMON PARTRIDGE. 377 



the birds would not lie among them : very little execution 

 was done, in consequence, in the early part of the day ; in 

 the first two hours only six brace of birds were bagged. 

 The day cleared up after eight o'clock, and the sportsman 

 amply made up for his lost time. He found birds plentiful 

 among Mr. Denny's fine crop of turnips on the Egmere 

 farm : and in a one and twenty acre piece of Swedes, he 

 bagged thirty-five and a half brace of birds. He concluded 

 his day's sport soon after six in the evening, and had then 

 bagged eighty-eight brace of birds, and five Pheasants ; 

 but a dispute having arisen among the umpires about one 

 bird, Colonel Dixon gave the point up, and the number was 

 ultimately declared to be eighty-seven and a half brace of 

 birds bagged, Pheasants and other game not being counted 

 in the match ; so that Mr. W. Coke's number of birds 

 bagged in the two days' shooting was one hundred and 

 sixty-eight brace. He had much fewer shots on the 

 second than on the first day, but he shot better ; on the 

 Saturday he bagged one hundred and eighty head from 

 three hundred and twenty-seven shots, which was con- 

 sidered good shooting in a match of this nature, when a 

 chance, however desperate it may appear, is not to be 

 thrown away. His uncle, T. W. Coke, Esq., loaded the 

 guns a great part of the day on Saturday, and, as a finale 

 to the day's sport, shot at and killed the last bird, which 

 his nephew had previously missed. Lady Ann Coke was 

 in the field a great part of the day ; her ladyship carried 

 refreshments for the sportsmen in her pony gig. Lord 

 Kennedy chose for the scene of his exploits, Montreith, 

 in Scotland, a manor belonging to Sir William Maxwell, 

 considered equal to any lands in Scotland for rearing Par- 

 tridges. On the first day of trial his lordship bagged 

 fifty brace, and on the second eighty-two brace ; being 



