198 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 
recommend a division of the functions of the head- 
keeper. There should be a partridge-keeper and a 
pheasant-keeper, each with his staff under him, and 
entirely independent of the other. In all probability 
it would be found that the partridge-keeper would 
require the larger staff of the two, since all small 
spinneys and copses, and even small outlying woods, 
would come under his supervision ; the attentions 
of the pheasant-keeper being confined to the two or 
three main coverts where pheasants are to be reared. 
This is a system I have advocated for years past, and 
since beginning this work I have heard that it has 
been adopted in two or three places with very satis- 
factory results. 
To arrive at the proper point of good relations 
with the farmers and labourers, it is necessary that a 
keeper should be always about in the fields, and, 
besides having an exact knowledge of the routine of 
the farm work and in what field the labourers are 
employed on any particular day, he must also have 
the opportunity of making friends with them, of in- 
spiring them with a desire to help him in his vocation, 
of studying their interests and individualities and 
reporting them to his master, and of watching and 
checking any instance of dishonesty or poaching that 
may occur among them. 
