A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



pheasants killed in Bedfordshire grow up in a 

 wild state. It may safely be asserted that they 

 would soon be almost extinct if left entirely to 

 their own devices. 



The county is undoubtedly a good one for 

 hares, which are still to be found in fair numbers 

 on some estates, although not nearly so numer- 

 ous as they were before the Ground Game Act 

 came into force. Taking the county as a whole 

 the fields are large ; this is one of the chief 

 reasons that hares do so well. The nature of 

 the soil does not seem to affect them to any ex- 

 tent, as there are quite as many hares on the 

 heavy land as on the light. 



Thirty years ago there were comparatively 

 few partridges in Bedfordshire. The land was 

 supposed to be unsuitable for the birds, and no 

 efforts were made to help them. In fact they 

 were shot down to as low a point as possible 

 each year, in the belief that this was the best 

 way to increase their numbers in the following 

 season. Ideas and methods have changed to 

 such an extent that a day's bag of 1 50 brace of 

 partridges is not uncommon at the present time. 

 Although greater experience and higher preserva- 

 tion have been to a large extent answerable for 

 this result, other causes have been helping towards 

 the same end. 



Bedfordshire is one of the flattest counties in 

 England, and the larger portion of its land is 

 heavy; but during the last thirty years draining 

 operations have been continually going on, with 

 the result that the heavy land is not nearly so 

 cold and wet as it was, and this has undoubtedly 

 been for the benefit of partridges. Again, 

 owing to the impossibility of growing corn at a 

 profit, a great deal of heavy land has been laid 

 down to grass, or rather, perhaps, has been 

 allowed to go out of cultivation, and has gradually 

 become grass. This would have been much 

 against partridges if large tracts of land had 

 been so treated, but only the coldest and worst 

 fields were allowed to become grass ; thus, where 

 at one time there were four or five hundred 

 acres of cultivated land in a block this area is 

 now plentifully sprinkled with grass fields. In 

 wet seasons, on the heavy Bedfordshire land, 

 those young partridges which have easy access to 

 grass land are the" only ones that survive. Some 

 agricultural changes and improvements have been 

 a decided help to game preservers on the heavy 

 land; but when we come to consider the light 

 land, it will be found that agricultural develop- 

 ments have not been so beneficial. 



The market-gardening industry, which has 

 developed by leaps and bounds during the last 

 twenty years, and is now general over what 

 would naturally be the best partridge land, fur- 

 nishes a case in point. On land which is given 

 up to market gardening, labour is increased ten- 

 fold, and the fields are consequently never quiet. 

 Partridges will not remain where they are con- 



tinually being disturbed, although it is true that 

 they have no objection to the presence of men 

 during the nesting season. In fact they often 

 prefer to nest on the side of a footpath. In a 

 market-gardening district, however, they have 

 little or no chance of hatching their eggs. What 

 fences there are, are hardly worthy of the name, 

 and as every possible foot of the land is culti- 

 vated close up to the fences, little or no room is 

 left for the birds to nest. Many consequently 

 nest in the crop, which is subject at any time to 

 the presence of a gang of labourers who have 

 come to weed the ground, or possibly even to 

 clear off the whole crop. Directly one crop is 

 removed another is planted, for two or three 

 crops a year is the rule rather than the exception 

 among market gardeners. Thus it comes about 

 that game on a great part of the light land in 

 Bedfordshire is more difficult to preserve than it 

 used to be, although conditions to-day on the 

 heavy land are more favourable than was the case 

 thirty years ago. 



There are a fair number of French partridges 

 still in the county, but their numbers have cer- 

 tainly diminished since driving became popular. 

 The reason for this is that the 'Frenchman's' 

 pedestrian accomplishments do not avail him, 

 when driven, to nearly the same extent as when 

 walked up. The prejudice which at one time 

 existed against these birds seems to be dying out, 

 and there is no doubt that they are often very 

 useful. A bag of 100 brace generally contains 

 from ten to twenty brace of Frenchmen. 



Driving to any great extent was first resorted 

 to in Bedfordshire by Major Sowerby, late of 

 Putteridge Bury, and by Mr. T. H. Barnard, at 

 Cople. Half of the Putteridge estate is situated 

 in Hertfordshire, and half in Bedfordshire; but 

 Major Sowerby, to whom the writer is indebted 

 for the following particulars, writes that the best 

 bag, of346| brace, was actually killed in Bedford- 

 shire, and this stands as the record by a long way 

 for the county. The Putteridge estate is a first- 

 rate one for game, the covers will hold as many 

 pheasants as any one is likely to wish to rear, 

 and it is easy to make the birds fly really 

 well. 



Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the 

 shooting records of Putteridge is the number of 

 pigeons which Major Sowerby and his brothers 

 have killed from time to time. The total head 

 of game killed in 1893 on this estate was 1,673 

 partridges, 2,626 pheasants, 232 hares, 4,494 

 rabbits. In the year 1894 3,199 pigeons were 

 killed, and in 1895 the totals amounted to 2,332 

 partridges — of which 3 1 5 brace were killed on the 

 Grubbs bush beat on one day by a party of seven 

 guns — 3, 1 03 pheasants, 273 hares, 2,589 rabbits, 

 and 1,705 pigeons. The year 1896 was re- 

 markable for the bag of 346^ brace of partridges, 

 before mentioned, which was also made on the 

 Grubbs bush beat by seven guns. 



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