ON A PARTRIDGE BEAT 9 
which was a savoury hash of pork and onions, and 
I enjoyed it probably as much as did Esau the price 
of his birthright. 
For the first year we had the front part of an 
old farmhouse—two rooms, a large general-purpose 
outhouse (formerly the dairy), with a third of the 
garden. This accommodation, as is the custom with 
keepers, was part of my wages. The rent in any 
case would not have been more than eighteenpence 
a week ; still, even that would have made a big 
hole in my fifteen shillings.a week. 
My domain consisted of about a thousand acres 
in the north of Hampshire, my native county. 
Unfortunately, it did not all lie in one block : one 
part, some two hundred and fifty acres, was a mile 
away from the rest. As some set-off to this dis- 
advantage, I lived about half-way between the two. 
The lie of the larger portion was fairly open, and 
the soil light. It was intersected by four by-roads, 
which crossed near the centre, and one side was 
bounded by a turnpike. The fields were big and 
the hedges few; with the exception of four, all the 
hedges were low, so that a considerable panoramic 
view was to be had from most points. 
The prospects certainly were not very encouraging, 
since the biggest bag for one day during the pre- 
ceding season was six anda half brace. This may 
have been due to a variety of causes other than 
proportionate scarcity of birds. I knew that in the 
