RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 
3 
in all directions with the glasses, hut detected no signs of any one, with the exception of the gamekeeper 
with a gun over his shoulder, and followed by a retriever, slowly making his way down the steep side 
of the hills from the high downs to the south of the wood. The deep brown glossy velveteen in which 
he was attired at once drew my attention ; although this material may he most appropriate for keepers 
while attending to a shooting-party, when it is necessary that their whereabouts should he well known 
to all the sportsmen while they are employed in enforcing order among the beaters, or working a pack 
of beagles in the large beds of furze, it must be a great drawback to success when on the watch for 
prowling egg-stealers in the spring, or waiting for the loafing ruffians from the lowest quarters of the 
nearest towns, who now and then work over the furze-clad downs with ferrets and nets. The various 
shades of grey and brown homespun shepherds’ plaids, generally made use of by the Ilighland foresters 
and keepers, render the wearers almost invisible at a short distance, and would doubtless prove far more 
suitable than such a conspicuous material for the southern guardians of our preserves while engaged in 
protecting the game committed to their charge from the attacks of the poaching fraternity. The keeper 
who, as previously stated, assisted in searching for the marten said he had never seen any animal of 
that family, with the exception of stoats and Aveasels, either on the downs or in the woods on the low 
grounds; and he imagined that if one Avas to be met with in the locality it must have escaped from 
confinement, as he had heard of one or tAVO being brought into the district from Scotland by some 
sportsmen Avho had moors in the Northern Highlands. With regard to stoats and weasels, this relentless 
destroyer of vermin asserted that these merciless and bloodthirsty little tyrants defied all his attempts to 
exterminate them, the large extent of rough cover and broken ground on the sloping sides of the doAvns 
in which they sought refuge affording them ample protection. On further inquiry I ascertained that he 
was of opinion that the bullet in the stem of the beech tree had been fired by a volunteer, after 
practising at a range a fcAV miles off toAvards the north-east, the direction from Avhich the missile 
evidently came. Some of those Avho occasionally shot there, he declared, were in the habit of firing at 
Rooks, Crows, or any large birds that came in vieAV Avhile on their way liomeAvards by the cross-country 
roads, utterly regardless of all consequences. 
It is someAvhat strange that Avhile this article, composed a year or two ago and fonvarded recently to 
London, has been in my hands (returned by the printers for revision), I have had a chance of examining a 
Little Grebe, an adult in most perfect plumage, obtained by a shot from the rifle of a volunteer Avithin a 
few miles of Brighton. While passing along the banks of a small mill-stream, he noticed the bird rapidly 
making its AA’ay at the depth of about a foot, and haAung discharged his rifle, it rose to the surface quite 
helpless and soon succumbed to the effects of the shot. There were no signs of a Avound, and I am of opinion 
it must have been the shock, caused by the force with Avhich the bullet struck the water, that killed the 
bird. 
