PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING 55 
would have been in fine weather. But here is an 
instance to show how much wilder partridges have 
become when, so far as the weather is concerned, 
they ought to lie like the proverbial stones. During 
the wonderful weather in the autumn of 1908, I 
went out on four different farms on which not a 
shot had been fired, and had the greatest difficulty 
in getting the brace or two I required. And it is no 
exaggeration to say that on one of the farms, of 
six hundred acres, there were a thousand partridges. 
Of course, well walked by an active party of guns 
and beaters, the birds soon would have tired, owing 
to the exceptional sultriness. One great cause 
which, I consider, is equally as responsible as 
driving for the increasing wildness of partridges is 
their increasing numbers. Still, I do not mind 
how wild they become so long as they continue to 
increase. 
Directly guns come within sight of a field whereon 
there are a lot of partridges—and often when yet 
a field or two away—the birds start running, each 
lot taking the tip from the other. On they race, 
possibly to rise and pour over the far hedge in a 
brown shoal. Perhaps they do not rise, but run 
through the hedge, so that their pursuers do not 
enjoy the satisfaction even of seeing them. This sort 
of thing is very liable to happen when only a small 
party is out, and the fields are big. The keeper 
gets the credit of having one bird where he has 
