WILD-BRED AND HAND-REARED 177 



rival partridge, must be noted as showing that though 

 on the eve of the first of October 'sportsmen are 

 anxiously looking forward to a pop at the long-tails ' 

 may be the favourite conventional phrase of the 

 urban journalist, it by no means represents the state 

 of mind of, or the use of terms affected by, those who 

 reside in the country where the ' long-tail ' abounds. 



Much as you may value, and keen as you may be 

 to secure, your wild-bred birds, whether for pleasure or 

 profit, you are not likely to obtain much by pursuing 

 them on the first of October. If you went out on 

 this date to secure cocks only in hedgerows, osier 

 beds, or spinneys, you would no doubt bag a certain 

 number which, at a later date, would — besides being 

 more wary — find it easier to elude you among the 

 scantier crops, thinner covert, and clearer ditches of 

 winter. But those who go out to kill off cocks ex- 

 clusively at this period of the season are rare, and the 

 more frequent condition of the pursuit is that while, 

 by hook or by crook, the old cock escapes, the im- 

 mature brood is destroyed in detail by the greedy and 

 inexperienced gunner. Should one haply escape, it 

 is a young and forward cock bird, which, following in 

 the footsteps of its father, runs some distance ahead 

 and gets up out of shot. 



The stock on outlying or rough and unmanageable 



