72 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PARTRIDGE 
swear to a partridge’s egg when he saw it, and he was 
very indignant. The chairman, however, taking a 
pair of scissors from his pocket, deliberately cut open 
the egg, and, producing a young dabchick, set it 
upon the desk, observing : ‘There’s your partridge 
for you!’.to the great amusement of the court and 
the discomfiture of the keeper. The case was, of 
course, dismissed, the chairman recommending the 
witness to learn his business before again practising 
his profession. . 
The poacher requires greater shrewdness than the 
keeper, if he is to exercise his vocation with profit as 
well as with impunity. It is his business, first and 
foremost, to net or snare the partridges or other game 
that he requires for the market. Success can only be 
obtained by close attention to business. An amateur 
would be sure to exercise his ingenuity to little 
purpose. Even the bird-catchers who drag the downs 
of the South Coast with ground-nets for larks in- 
cidentally secure a few partridges in the meshes 
of their old-fashioned fowling engines. A scientific 
poacher leaves as little as possible to chance. He 
scorns the idea of shunning danger, being willing and 
ready to run certain hazards in carrying out his 
schemes. Before he enters upon any serious opera- 
tion, he selects his ground and makes himself master 
