WILD-BRED AND HAND-REARED 185 



when they rise high off the heath and come over with 

 the partridges, and quite as fast. 



I well remember the first drive I ever had at 

 Elvedon, with the late Maharajah Dhuleep Singh ; 

 thirty-six partridges and forty-five pheasants fell to 

 my own gun, besides a few hares, in about a quarter 

 of an hour from taking our places. The late October 

 days in Norfolk and Suffolk, especially where there is 

 heath, are among the most fascinating to be got in 

 England. The mixed days to be had at the same 

 season in the lowlands of Scotland, where grouse and 

 blackgame, ' capers ' or woodcock, alternate with the 

 rocketing pheasant, are a luxury of varied shooting. 

 But the pheasants are all got at these places in prac- 

 tically the same manner, that is, by inclosing and 

 driving a good stretch of country, moorland, or heath 

 and covert together, with a strong line of beaters, and 

 forcing the pheasants along with driven grouse, part- 

 ridges or blackgame, to the guns in position. This is 

 almost the only class of October shooting at pheasants, 

 the leaf being still thick in the coverts, which can be 

 described as worth having. Those who have not such 

 favourable ground, where each wood is isolated and 

 must be taken in the orthodox manner, will do better 

 to leave them till a little later on. 



Of the hand-reared bird I may offer some 



