MORE ABOUT GAME-BIRDS. 115 



I have from my earliest years been in close touch 

 with this bird, in days long before breech-loaders 

 were invented or partridge-driving thought about, 

 when they were shot over dogs, either Spanish 

 pointers or rough-coated setters. That past time 

 comes vividly before me as I now write. Those 

 large fields, with the sportsmen dotted here and 

 there, looking dwarfed by their wide surroundings, 

 the puffs of smoke at each shot, and the faint report 

 borne seawards, and finally a brace given to me to 

 carry home. 



I do not intend to give any details concerning 

 sporting matters, as to the vast bags made in 

 past times by men who shot with muzzle-loaders, 

 as that is a matter of little moment ; and such 

 records only prove that the plump brown - grey 

 birds were very abundant in those days, and that 

 good shots were there to drop them right and 

 left. 



In the course of writing this sketch of the par- 

 tridge, I have sauntered leisurely through his haunts 

 to make sure that he has not, in these changeful 

 days, developed any fresh traits. 



I find that he remains unaltered. As I look 



