EXTRAORDINARY SPORTING. 
41 
but let us call it a pardonable weakness, in which we all 
participate : our authority ' Craven ' does so, evidently; for, 
speaking of the red-legged species, of which we shall have 
more to say presently, he says that it is ^ a foreigner of 
recent introduction (and, like other foreigners, if we had 
never seen him it would have been no great loss).' 
From the first of September to the first of February is 
the time when, according to act of parliament, those who 
have game certificates may shoot Partridges without stint 
or measure, provided always they trespass not upon for- 
bidden ground. Those who have manors of their own find 
it best to wait until the 20th or so before they commence, 
and finish on Old Twelfth Day ; the birds are more plenti- 
ful, and afford better sport. 
The mention of * ordinary sporting ' reminds us of a mode 
of taking Partridges practised by the Gauchos of South 
America, which perhaps our readers will think rather extra- 
ordinary. A noose fixed to the end of a rod is the only 
instrument used by the native, whose quick eye, as he rides 
at a gallop, detects the bird crouching amid the herbage of 
the wide grassy plain. He instantly brings his horse upon 
its haunches, and forms round his victim, at first a distant, 
and then by degrees a nearer circle. The poor bird mean- 
while sits like a creature bewildered, watching the noose as 
it approaches nearer and nearer, but apparently having no 
power to fly fi-om the danger. At length its neck is caught 
in the fatal snare, with a sudden jerk it is tightened, and 
the bird is drawn up like a fish by an expert angler, and 
pays for its stupidity with its life. In our own country an 
ingenious method of capturing Partridges is sometimes 
resorted to by members of the poaching fraternity. When 
birds have gone to rest in their usual way, lying in a group, 
with tails meeting in the centre and heads pointing out- 
ward, like the radii of a compass, they turn a well-trained 
setter dog into the field, or cover, with a lantern attached 
to its head : all the while this light continues moving about 
they know that a find has not been made ; but as soon as 
it becomes stationary, they cautiously approach the spot 
with a net, with which they generally manage to secure the 
whole covey : more commonly, however, the net is used 
