208 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 
which destroys so many young birds, even in good 
breeding seasons. 
But the prevalence of the latter pest, and the 
many dangers of all sorts, the worst being the frequent 
recurrence of cold, wet weather in June, which make 
a stock of partridges so delicate and uncertain a 
quantity, seem to me to outweigh altogether the pos- 
sibility of birds being a trifle close upon the ground 
in the nesting season, and the consequent inroads of 
the older birds upon the incubations of the younger. 
The latter undoubted evil is better provided against 
by driving the birds rather than walking them up, and 
by a judicious thinning of the old cocks at the com- 
mencement of the pairing season, a necessary practice 
not half enough resorted to. 
Partridges will not grow out of stones, and if after 
killing them close a bad hatching season succeeds, 
you will have nothing to shoot at all, unless you 
draw birds from your neighbour’s land, which is not a 
desirable state of things. 
To sum up, on a large majority of properties very 
little is done to protect and preserve the partridge, 
the most desired and appreciated of all game birds, 
causing the stock to fall below its proper mark, while, 
notwithstanding this shortcoming, many owners year 
after year—either from recklessness or want of know- 
