192 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 
these are all stolen, and the traffic should never be 
encouraged by true sportsmen. 
Norfolk and Suffolk have been the principal hunt- 
ing grounds of these people in the last few years, 
and I do not hesitate to say that these counties are 
most terribly ‘egged.’ I remember a few years ago, 
having to wait some time for a train at Thetford, I 
had a long conversation with the stationmaster on 
this and kindred subjects. ‘Ah, sir,’ he said, ‘it 
would break any gentleman’s heart who is fond of 
shooting to see the scores of boxes of eggs that go 
through this station in April and May. I know 
what they are, but I have to put them in and forward 
them ; I have no power to prevent it.’ 
This is a very lamentable state of things, but it 
will never be remedied until there is better and more 
powerful combination among owners, sporting tenants, 
and shooting men of every degree. There is, I 
believe, a society called the Field Sports Protection 
Association, but it has as yet achieved no very re 
markable results, though there are a few well-known 
names on its list. But an idea of its management 
may be gathered from the simple fact that two out of 
every three shooting men you meet have never heard 
of its existence or been asked to support it. 
What is wanted is a much more powerful federa- 
