40 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
blazing away at the birds to the bitter end are 
the last to give the matter a thought. They are 
content to leave what they are pleased to call a 
stock to the mercy of the weather, generally the 
most trying of the whole year; to the pangs of 
hunger, without a yard of stubble accessible; and 
to the unchecked ravages of vermin everlastingly 
on the prowl. It is all very well to urge, in ex- 
tenuation of total neglect, that severe weather, short 
commons, and the attentions of vermin purge the 
stock birds of weaklings. That is no excuse for 
forgetting that what kills undesirables must weaken 
the rest, and must tend to weak-germed eggs and 
delicate chicks, ready to perish in the first spell of 
bad weather. But please don’t run away with the 
idea that I advocate coddling partridges after the 
manner of the unfortunate pheasant that spends 
most of its life in coop and pen. 
A partridge under average conditions can hold 
its own with most birds in point of plumpness. Is 
not ‘as plump as a partridge’ a common simile? 
But kill a partridge after a week’s or a fortnight’s 
frost, and its emaciated breast will provide about 
as much meat as athrush’s. Surely this is just the 
time when the birds which are to continue their 
race require, if only in the interest of the superb 
sport they provide, food, decent both in quantity 
and quality. What is there for them? Some of 
the lucky ones may be able to snatch a few grains 
