66 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PARTRIDGE 
CHAPTER VII 
POACHING PARTRIDGES 
THE netting of partridges appears to the average 
Englishman to be quite as heinous a crime as it would 
be voted by any French Javon ; yet there was a time, 
and that not so very long ago, when any county 
magnate would have cheerfully lent his presence to 
the pastime of dragging the fields for these birds. 
Such a trifling matter as the expense of making a net 
for taking game was sure to be recorded in the 
accounts of any ancient house whose head cared for 
‘sport.’ A single entry from the accounts of the 
Lestranges of Hunstanton may suffice for an ex- 
ample. Among the expenses of ‘the Mill, Bac- 
house, Brewhouse, and Kechyn’ for the year 
1533-34, an entry stands: ‘Itm pd the iij¢ day 
of November for ij lb of twyn for the ptriche nett 
4 s. xd. It is clear, therefore, that our forefathers 
did not content themselves with taking game with 
their hawks and crossbows, but had recourse to more 
