Practical Game-Preserving. i5 6 



contain them are covered on top with canvas. An opening 

 large enough to permit a single bird to come out is pro- 

 vided, and the partridges are then best left by themselves 

 to find their way out. Water, &c., with food as described, 

 being placed within easy access near the hamper, the birds 

 soon discover this for themselves, and will, without going 

 to any great distance, make their way about, and, so to 

 speak, find a footing upon the place. It is to be remarked, 

 however, that they certainly do better when placed in the 

 pens at first, a larger percentage of birds turned out from 

 the hampers direct tending to stray far afield, whilst those 

 which have suffered most from the long journey have less 

 chance of recovering themselves. 



Once more let it be remembered that Hungarian, &c., 

 partridges should always be turned away in the morning 

 and never at night, a fact which has more to do with 

 successful results in this business than almost anything else, 

 although I have frequently noted the reverse practice is 

 recommended. 



It is frequently claimed by those having to do with 

 them that they can easily distinguish the Hungarian birds 

 from the others, but I am perfectly convinced that if 

 the right sort of birds has been put down once the two 

 sorts have properly commingled, this is quite impossible 

 unless some special mark be put upon them. This mark- 

 ing may be carried out in one or two ways, but the least 

 desirable of all is the placing of rings upon the birds' legs. 

 For the purpose of identifying the birds alive there is no 

 better way than to cut the tails squarely across. This 

 mark will make itself abundantly apparent all through 

 their first season, for whether on the nest or in flight the 

 imported birds so treated show up quite distinctively 

 against any others. In order to identify the birds when 

 dead, or in a second season, a small punch, such as is used 



