2 COMMON PARTRIDGE.
unless Ilio In Ids arc well proteetol with bushes, anil (lie depredators kept in constant fear of interruption.
I ascertained from some of tlie worthies who mike a living by bird-catching and dragging at night for
Larks (which occupation of course includes the capture of every feathered creature coming within their
clutches), that the bushes in the fields give considerable trouble, the land on which they are placed
needing lo he carefully examined by day and a wide berth allowed to the obstacles when nt work. Barleystubhles
are reckoned the most attractive roosting-places for Partridges, though, of course, wind, weather,
and other circumstances only learned by experience have to be considered. Tin- present system of closeculling,
which bus now l>ccn carried on for over the last iwenty years, llnds little favour in the eyes of
these men, as their prey is more easily sprung on the approach of danger, A new lay of clover. Intended
for the next year's feeding, and also rape are likewise favourite resorts for the birds, and require e\trn
guarding, as the poachers are well aware of the fact. Eleven brace obtained in one night is the highest
take I havo heard of, my informant also slating that he had now and then secured eight or nine, and
once a down Partridges at one drop of the net. Early in the season the majority of the young birds
are small and weak, and a few even succeed in ctl'ccting their escape, though towards the close of winter,
when they have gained strength, some occasionally go right through the net. should it happen to be old
and worn. Hares arc now and then taken, lr rolb-d up and entangled, but more often they force their
way through the nets and tear away a portion.
The following letter which appoaml in 'The i'icld* of Septemlter 3, 1SS1, gives such an excellent
and amusing account of the attempts made by the writer, a well-known sportsman, to tind a means to
check this kind of poaching, that I oiler no apelogy for inserting it in 'Rough Notes':—
"Partridge Net:
"Sin,—The partridge-season is at hand, and the poachers will be running their nets. I got hold
of a poacher's net, and I havo been running It over the fields in daylight, to try and find out the best
means of stopping it. 'The net is 80 yards long and 12 yards deep, made of very fine string, with a
large mesh; it will roll up into a ball about the size of a hat-boi. Sometimes the nets are nmdo of
silk, seventy or eighty ynrds long; but they arc very expensive, ¿9 or £10. A common partridge-net,
such as I was using, can lie got at any net factory for 25«. or 30*.
"The most usual appliances employed for tlio prevention of netting are gorse bushes, branch™,
brambles, thorns, and stakes. I tried the net over the whole of these. Pirst wo tried a gorsc hush, with
a green head standing tirmly about two feet out of the ground; the bush yielded, and the net passed
over like a tablecloth—nothing to catch it. When the gorse bush was stuck lightly in the ground the
net took it away, nnd the gorse bush ncled : it gave two or three somersaults, and wisped up the net;
hut when the gorse bush was placed so lightly in the ground that it would go away with the net, it would
also go away with the first breeze. Verdict, gorse bush not effectual. We next tried brambles. When
lying on the ground they are very low, and only caught the tail or drag of tho net; wo felt them strike
and dragged on to seo what they would do (they were lying loose); by the time wo got to the end of
the field they were merely hanging in tho nil where they bod first struck. We pegged out the net, and
they Van pulled out quite easily. Verdict, brambles won't do. Wo then triad branches, stuck in pretty
firm, 3 ft. or I ft. out of the ground. Green pliable branches were of no use, they yielded, and the net
travelled over; stag-headed, stiff, half-dead branches were pulled out and rolled over nnd over, nnd made
a rare mess; wild roses did the same thing, only better, if they went away with the net. Half-dead
larch branches arc good, the little nobbly warts and cones catch the net. Old gorse that has Itecn clean
burnt leaving a long stag-headed stump wc found good to lay down loose, it won't blow and tumbles
well. The higher the net b caught the better, but we found nothing so effectual a stopper as a good
COMMON PARTRIDGE.
honest stout stake driven or stink with a jumper very firmly into the ground, and slicking up a couple
of feet; when the net enmo on tail we had to stop dead or to tear—there were no two ways about it.
Many men nnd keepers have a notion that Very little will stop a net or render it useless; anything
catching a net high up will probably be mischievous, but anything catching the tail does no great barm,
except it is firm or likely to make a somersault. Wc dragged a lot of thistles in tho tail of the net,
stretched the net, pegged it out and took them out easily. A thorn bush catching high up and going
away with tin- net is nasty; a thorn in the tail of the net is not much, it won't stop it or wisp it up.
Birds don't he very close to the Tonco, hut generally about the centre of the field, all the field won't
require pegs. A good peg for every acre will protect nny field—far twenty acres say twenty pegs. The
net takes in about half an acre (70 yards square is about an acre); the not won't go twice its own
length before being pulled up; the finer and longer the nets tho fewer pegs required. Poachers sometimes
run a large square net with laths or bamboos along tho sides lo stretch it; it requires four men, one at
each corner; it is carried clear of the ground, nnd there are droppers from it to start the birds—when
they hear them, they drop the whole concern. It is a troublesome net to rig up in tho dark and to
conceal, and is not often used except tho country is all bushed. There Is always a bit of a sag in the
middle, ami longer stakes like sheep flakes will reach it nnd stop it. Poachers lako good stock of tho
ground before they run a net; if there arc some old barrows with tho teeth uppermost lying about
the fields, and if they are occasionally shifted, a poacher won't care about the cliancc of being maimed.
A tumble over a linrrow in the dark is no juke. Of course, harrows can't be left in a hunting country;
but in o non-hunting country an honest man has no more chance of being off the road in a dark night
than ho has of being on the spikes of your area railings. Poachers dnn't like a rainy night, or even if
the grass is very wet, it spoils nnd clogs the net; nor a very windy night, the Bet beats them. A dark
dry night, with a slight breeze, just enough to carry the net when going against it, suits them best.—,1. D. B."
Some years back, after a conversation with a
two parties of Lawless individuals in possession of
which was most skilfully turned out according t
imitations could bo pkiccd either in a socket, in n
by being prossisl down sufficiently deep into the
bad the desired effect, though strong stumps armed
and replied if removed. A year or two Later I Ii
was left entirely unmolested, and this stylo of poa
sharp points of one of the thistles was said to ha
nnd this probably intimidated the rest of the g
thistles were very difficult to detect in a field at a
side by those intending a raid would reveal the
course such means of putting a stop to poaching
well-trained keepers nnd watchers an- employed I
neighliourhood. The first pnttern sent for my a)
it had boon "on a shiny night." ftc, ;
• land -
my orders by a
tump or wood d
>il. Shortly nft.
1th crooked naill
mod that the gi
s occasionally visited by one or
lan for an artificial metal thistle,
ronmongcr in the Strand. These
a into the ground, or merely fixed
it w-as stated that my invention
hooks were more easily procured
its constructs
concluded by i
dark I"
nd
•And 1
opinion
about <
tg was no longer carried on in the district. The
indicted some ugly wounds on a well-known offender,
. When carefully turned out and coloured these
distance, and no amount of watching from the roadreabouls
itonished ihi
it it must
* blessed sh
of the whole that were planted out. Of
ai only be efficiently carried out where a staff of
all loafers kept constantly in view while in the
ml, which I showed to an old band whose delight
y individual, and after closely examining
ibly cut its way through
1 be like
always fetch a good p
,nd consequently this
irket; but the:
act suffer tu s extent from the dopri