COMMON PARTRIDG E.
PER1JIX CINERJ1J.
Orn old English Partridge, which stands high in the estimation of all sportsmen from north to south
in the British Islands, is to he found in almost every part of the country where cultivation is carried
on-—most plentiful, of course, where the farmers are proficient agriculturists, though a few enveys are
not mi frequently met with in the remotest Highland glens. In these wild districts the birds are forced
to put up with such accommodation as is to be obtained ; this usually consists of scattered patches or land
devoted to growing grain, am! a few swampy hay-fields on the low ground aloug the course of the
river or loch or adjoining the burn-side. During my wanderings in the Outer Islands of the Hebrides I
did not fall in with this species, though it is asserted on good authority that they are established in several
localities where protection is offered and the situation is suitable to their requirements.
In former days the old-fashioned sportsman, armed with his antiquated Hint and steel, and attended
by a well-broken pointer, was content with a very moderate bag, twenty ur thirty brace being considered
a grand day's work and well worthy of mention. By driving, and even over dogs, immense bags have
been obtained since those days, 31)0 brace of baud-reared and 157 brace of wild birds being recorded as
secured in two days' shooting by an enterprising individual a few years back. As is still the fashion,
several writers in days gone by vented their irritation by having a ding at those " slaughterers " who took
sometimes thirty hraee in a day." In the time of "William Maegillivray, author of the well-known
' History of British Birds,' though the supply iu the market must have been exceedingly limited compared
with what it is at the present day, the price was decidedly low, that thrifty Highlander remarking, with regard
to this species, "as an article of food, they are not beyond the reach of the middle classes of society, the
average price of a pair being half-a-crown."
The years I devoted to shooting and collecting having been mostly passed either on the Scotch hillsides
and firths or the Snipe-marshes adjoining the Norfolk broads, or in the fens of Cambridge, as
well as on the open seas surrounding our shores, I have never come across any really first-class
stretch of ground adapted for rartridgc-shooling. There was, however, Bttle difficulty in ascertaining that
closely killing down the vermin, and keeping a constant watch to check all poaching, in addition to
remaining on good terms with one's workmen and shepherds, were the main points to be considered in order
to raise a fair stock of birds in any locality where the nature of the country was suitable to their
requirements. Stray cats. Crows, weasels, and stoats should he exterminated if possible, and last, but not
least, the prowling roadside gunner, who makes his raids either on foot or mounted in a light cart with
a fast-trotting pony in the shafts, requires careful watching before he can be captured. Those who