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AYMER 'MAXWELL
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CCESSING-ONE U.B.C. LIBRARY
THE LIBRARY
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
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PARTRIDGES & PARTRIDGE MANORS
AGENTS
America The Macmillan Company
64 & 66 Fifth Avenue, New Yokk
Australasia. . . . The Oxford University Press
205 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Canada The Macmillan Company of Canada Ltd.
St. Martin's Hou.se, 70 Bond Street Toronto
India Macmillan & Company, Ltd.
Macmillan Building, Bombay 309 Bow Bazaar Street, Calcutta
Germany, Austria '\
Hungary, Russia, I Brockhaus and Pehr.sson Scandinavia, and j 10 Querstrasse, Leipzig German Switzerland j
"A Iatal Mistake." A Covey Flying out to Sea.
PAKTRIDGES AND PAETRIDGE MANORS
BY
CAPTAIN AYMER MAXWELL '^
JOINT AUTHOR OF ' GROUSE AND GROUSE MOORS '
WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
BY
GEORGE RANKIN
LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1911
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010 with funding from
University of British Columbia Library
http://www.archive.org/details/partridgespartriOOmaxw
PREFACE
So steady is the flow of sporting literature, so prolific has the last decade proved in works on every branch of the chase, that a word of justification seems necessary ere offering yet another volume to join the already serried ranks on those shelves of the library devoted to the subject.
Perchance some may find, in the delicate handiwork of our artist, sufficient excuse for all else there is between the boards^; yet the writer hopes that, while there may be nothing in these pages which has not been said as well or better before, yet in this attempt at a mono- graph on the partridge and its relations to sport there may be found for the first time a fair and true summary of what is
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PiEFACE
steady is the tow of sporting literature,
prolific has te last decade proved in
»rks on every )ranch of the chase, that
^ord of justifiation seems necessary ere
fering yet ancher volume to join the
•eady serried inks on those shelves of
|e library devo3d to the subject.
Perchance sme may find, in the jlicate handiwck of our artist, sufficient iccuse for all ese there is between the T)ards ; yet th< writer hopes that, while gere may be lothing in these pages mich has not ben said as well or better ifore, yet in lis attemn*^ -^ a m^ aph OP ' spori
i*
^
vi PARTRIDGES
known to - day about the bird and its ways.
In advancing this claim, the writer is by no means obhvious of Mr. Charles Alhngton's manual of Partridge Driv- ing, a wholly admirable work which has proved an unfailing source of useful advice through seven years of practical application of its principles on partridge ground. But this is admittedly a book written by an expert for the use of ex- perts, and for general purposes the volume of the *Fur and Feather' series on the partridge remains the standard work on the subject. While Mr. Stuart- Wortley's chapters will always be delightful reading — perhaps no writer on sport ever achieved such facility and grace of expression — yet things have moved apace in the partridge world since this book was pubUshed fifteen years ago, and modern methods of pre- servation differ vastly from those then in force. ^
' For example, on page 33 of this work occurs the sentence, *' Certainly it is best that the majority of
PREFACE vii
Due acknowledgment should here be made of assistance received in compiling these pages ; especially would the writer confess his indebtedness to the Duchess of Bedford for courteously supplying the notes on foreign partridges at Woburn Abbey in Chapter II. ; to Mr. C. AUing- ton for the valuable information and ad- vice in his letters ; to Mr. G. W. Taylor for allowing him the benefit of a wide knowledge and experience by revising and correcting the chapter on Driving ; and, finally, to the many kind and ready contributors of the notes in Chapter V.
partridge nests should escape attention altogether." In a text-book of to-day this sentence would have to be re- worded^ and would then read, '' Certainly it is best that no partridge nest should escape attention altogether."
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
IN DEFENCE OF THE PARTRIDGE
The case for game -preservers — Interests of sport and agriculture in this case mutual — Economic value of sport to rural communities — A plea for a right understanding ...... Page 1
CHAPTER n
NATURAL HISTORY
Distribution and life-history of the partridge — Red-legged partridges — Foreign varieties suitable for introduction — Cookery of the partridge . . . .17
CHAPTER m
HISTORICAL
Early records of partridge- shooting — Great sportsmen of the eighteenth century — Matches — England t*. Scotland in 1823, etc. — Methods of other days . 61
CHAPTER IV
PRESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
Partridge ground, good and bad — Keepers and their work — The various systems of modern preservation . 80
ix
X PARTRIDGES
CHAPTER V
BY MANY HANDS
A series of notes from many estates — Summarizing present- day methods under varying conditions — With results, opinions, and suggestions . . . Page 132
CHAPTER VI
VERMIN
What the real enemies of game are, and how they should be dealt with — What animals and birds are unjustly included in the list of proscription . . . 177
CHAPTER Vn
SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE
On partridge-shooting generally — Guns, cartridges, men, and dogs — Shooting over dogs — Walking in line 208
CHAPTER Vm
PARTRIDGE - DRIVING
The broad rules which govern successful driving — The difficulties which arise in their application, and how they can be overcome — Beaters, flankers, and guns, their right disposition and duties — The cost of driving 239
CHAPTER IX
OLD MICHAELMAS DAY . . 290
CHAPTER X
STATISTICAL
Some records in Britain — Partridges abroad — Austria, Hungary, and Belgium ..... 808
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
1. 'A Fatal Mistake'— A Covey flying out
to Sea ..... Frontispiece
2. Partridge and Young . . . . \Q
3. French Partridge . . . . . 33
4. ^Jugging' 48
5. Partridges on Wing . ... 65
6. (1) Good Nesting Ground; (2) Bad Nest-
ing Ground ..... 80
7. A Time-honoured Custom — Partridge and
Pheasant using same Nest . . .129
8. ^ Ware Chase' 144
9. ^Vermin' . . . . . .177
10. ^ Their worst Enemy' — Hen-house and
Poultry on Stubble Field . . .192
11. (1) The Right Shot; (2) The Wrong
Shot 209
12. ^Towered' ...... 224
13. Retriever on Wounded Bird . . .241
xi
xii PARTRIDGES
FACING PAGE
1 4. The Last Drive of the Season . . . 256
15. * The Valley of Death' . . . . 27S
16. ' Partridge Country ' .... 288
IN BLACK AND WHITE
Eight diagrams in the text.
PARTRIDGES AND PARTRIDGE MANORS
CHAPTER I
IN DEFENCE OF THE PARTRIDGE
The case for game preservers — Interests of sport and agriculture in this case mutual — Economic value of sport to rural communities — A plea for a right understanding.
** Land by the square mile is thrown away in profligate extravagance upon stags and pheasants and partridges, and is doled out with miserly greed by the foot for the habitations of men, women and children." This is not a statement of fact — far from it — it is merely a quotation from the famous pulpit speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the year of grace 1910, a speech which the Rev. J. Campbell
2 PARTRIDGES
modestly opined was destined to live for ever.
While this is no place to embark on the stormy waters of political discussion, at the same time it would be wrong to pass by unchallenged the many rash and ill-considered utterances to which we are now being treated, of which the above may serve as a sample, — utterances which ring only too plausibly in the ears of thousands who, having no shadow of knowledge about the subject, accept as gospel all they are told, and thus come to regard all game and game-preserving in this country through a false and dis- torted medium.
It is not the sayings themselves that do the mischief; when they come from the irresponsible tub-thumper in the park we may well afford to forgive him his ignorance, and leave him to battle the air in peace, knowing that his words are dead as soon as spoken ; when, however, they fall from the lips of a responsible Minister of the Crown, with all the dignity of his
THEIR DEFENCE 3
high office to lend them weight and ensure their wide circulation and ready acceptance, it is indeed time for some of us, who have the best interests of sport at heart, to bestir ourselves and make our voices heard in defence of what we hold to be a fair and legitimate recreation.
With stags and pheasants we have not here to deal, but in so far as our little friend the partridge is concerned in the sweeping condemnation above quoted, we can with confidence give the lie direct to such an absurd proposition.
One may even say, without any exag- geration, that unless the square miles, at which the finger of righteous wrath was pointed, are inhabited by numbers of men, women and children, well disposed to those who preserve and shoot over the ground, you may throw your land away in such profligate extravagance as you will, but you will seek in vain to make a good partridge-shooting.
For it is an axiom that partridges * follow the plough,' and it is exactly on
4 PARTRIDGES
those lands where farming most thrives, where the largest number of farm hands are engaged in cultivating the land, and where a considerate and conscientious landowner lives on the best of terms with tenant and labourer alike, that partridges do best, and it is there that the big totals at which our social reformers hold up their hands in horror, are obtained, not at the expense, but actually with the con- nivance and approval of the entire rural community.
The countryman, indeed, is not likely to be taken in by all the nonsense which is now talked about sport as part of the crusade against the amusements of the privileged classes. He knows well enough that partridges do no damage to farmers ; that the whole neighbourhood benefits directly by the presence of the shooting tenant who spends his autumn in their midst; and that good watching by the gamekeepers saves many a poultry roost from the depredations of the local poachers, and farms from the dangers of gates left
THEIR DEFENCE 5
open and straying stock, for these gentry do not bear the character of being over- considerate of others, such time as they are pursuing their nocturnal vocation.
But, unfortunately at least in this respect, it is the townsman who has the predominant voice in the management of affairs in this country ; he is being taught to be severely critical of the pleasures of the rich, and, among others, the man with the dog and the gun is constantly held up to him in an utterly false and untrue light.
Alike on ethical and economic grounds we would meet our detractors. While we do not seek to defend the man who, with means admitting of continued leisure, devotes the best of his life and energies to the pursuit of sport, we hold that he is in a negligible minority in this country, and that it is most unfair to take him as typical of a class, for he is simply the waster who is found in every walk of life, and by no means the normal example. Certainly in partridge-shooting it would be safe to say that ninety out of every
6 PARTRIDGES
hundred who follow this sport are deserv- ing members of the community, enjoying well-earned holidays in a peculiarly harm- less fashion.
** Your partridges and your pheasants," cries the Socialist and his like, ** Nature's produce, the rightful property of the people, and only withheld by the mon- strous injustice of the game laws, framed only to suit the convenience of a privileged class." Neither he nor his hearers care to know that the landowner or lessee pays, by the time he has shot them, something like £l a brace for this public property, and that were game allowed to fend for itself with no protection against its legion foes, winged, biped, and four-footed, there would very shortly be no game left in the country for any one.
Vindictive legislation could easily stop the present class of sportsmen from enjoy- ing their shooting, but such a short-sighted measure would defeat its own ends, which would be, presumably, the good of the many. Sport would by no means be thus
THEIR DEFENCE 7
provided for the million, for sport would cease to exist. Abolish the game laws, and game in this country would be abolished by the same act. If we con- sider how many are dependent for their livelihood on partridge - shooting, how many more derive profitable employment therefrom, a welcome aid to their narrow means, how largely all trades in a country district depend on the money that cir- culates, directly or indirectly, through the shooting, and finally what a valuable source of food supply our shootings are — (does not France spend a million annually on imported game ?) — we realize how strong a case we have, and one which, rightly understood, should make the most ardent reformer chary of interfering with so valuable a national asset, so important a factor in our rural economy.
The question seems simple enough ; so long as human nature remains what it is, some folk will work with their brains instead of their hands, and make money at the expense of those who find
8 PARTRIDGES
in manual labour the only profitable ex- pression of their energy. The work of the head being in its nature sedentary, such folk will also desire to spend the money they have earned in outdoor pursuits, in the interests of their work, if for no better reason. Some of these will always hanker after the joys of partridge- shooting, and if they cannot get it in this country, which heaven forfend, they will betake themselves to Hungary, Belgium or Germany for their days of leisure.
It must surely be better for the country that the money earned here should be spent at home, to the betterment of the very class that all are agreed most want encouragement — the agricultural population.
And if any think that this is an ex- aggerated estimate of the dependence of the general prosperity in a country district on the sport it affords, let him go to the West of Ireland and study the conditions prevailing there. He will find that, where there is hunting, the district may
THEIR DEFENCE 9
be poor, but there will always be a certain amount of money circulating, and consequently little real distress when compared with the districts where there are no hounds and consequently no sport, game-preservation being impossible and game naturally almost extinct. What he will notice chiefly then is the absolute stagnation and scarcity of money, trade at a standstill, and universal poverty ; and let us hope that he will profit by this object lesson, and talk less at the next election about popular rights and the game laws.
Meantime, it is well to ask, though difficult to answer, what security of tenure our game laws have in the near future. They have been openly attacked on hundreds of Radical platforms in the plethora of General Elections from which we have suffered of late, often with the silent consent of the Radical candi- date, himself not uncommonly a game- preserver on a large scale in some other county, — an anomaly which we do not seek to explain.
10 PARTRIDGES
Fifteen years ago Mr. C. Stuart Wortley was able to write that "the game laws stand on safer ground than they have ever done in the history of England."
Could he say the same to-day ? Sport, which must be the luxury of the few, is siieh an easy subject of attack, pro- vided only that your audience be ignorant enough. Attack, however unjust, when virulent and oft-repeated, undoubtedly will have effects, especially when the de- fence is silent ; and the difficulty of a right understanding lies not a little in a certain slackness noticeable among those most interested. It is quite com- mon to hear it said in the smoking-room — " Let's have a good shoot now ; who knows whether there will be any shooting in ten years' time." This deplorable attitude of laisser-faire, this philosophical pessimism, cannot be too strongly con- temned.
We game-preservers must realize that though the arguments of our detractors
THEIR DEFENCE 11
seem to us trivial and absurd, and scarcely worthy of contradiction, yet the masses do not share our special know- ledge of the subject, and it is for us to enlighten their ignorance, dispel the fallacies before they take root, and lead them to a better understanding. It is neither right nor in any way expedient to obscure the issue, and evade the question of game-preserving on public platforms.
Rightly handled, our case is eminently a presentable one ; lay it clearly before the people whenever the chance offers, and show how it rests on a firm base — the general welfare of the country. Do not talk overmuch about the rights of property ; however strongly you may believe in them yourself, still you cannot expect them to appeal to those who only want a right to your property, nor in- deed to the mass of the people, to whom property is but a name. You will not get them to admit the sanctity of human institutions, but on broader grounds they
12 PARTRIDGES
will listen to your pleading, and your voice will not have been raised in vain. For surely we all share a belief in the reasonable nature of our fellow-country- men ; could they but understand some of the simplest facts about game-preserving, we may rest assured that they would listen with less patience to all the rant and cant, which, uncontradicted, is liable to work so much harm.
I have not touched at all on the pleasures of partridge-shooting, on the immense amount of enjoyment which it provides, for here I should be no im- partial critic, and no eulogy, however eloquent, could be expected to influence the judgment of those who have never had the good fortune to enjoy this or any other form of sport.
Further, this is a utilitarian age in which we find ourselves. Matters are weighed in the balance of material good to the nation, and judged accordingly. All that we game-preservers ask for is that the scales should be held true, the
THEIR DEFENCE 13
measures fairly balanced, and then we need have little fear of the verdict.
Let, then, those who profess to love the people more than we do — and cer- tainly do express their affection more often and volubly — before they deal with the question of sport, consider the points in favour of partridge-shooting, the most universal and popular form of sport in this country. For their benefit let us summarize the arguments in favour of our pastime, viewed in the most material- istic spirit we can compass.
Partridge - shooting is a valuable by- product of successful agriculture, to the operations of which it is in no sense inimical.
It alone induces men with money to pass their autumns in remote country districts, where their presence stimulates the local trade, and puts much -needed money in circulation.
It permanently supports a numerous class, the gamekeepers of Britain, who preserve those virile qualities so necessary
14 PARTRIDGES
to the well-being of a nation, besides offer- ing to many thousands of poor people the chance of adding a few shillings to their narrow means.
Stripped of all the qualities which en- dear him to us, the partridge may still be regarded as a small machine, which turns noxious weeds and useless insects into a valuable food for humans.
One might add that partridge-shooting is a wholesome and manly recreation, teaching city dwellers something of the pleasures of an open-air life, and stimulat- ing an interest in natural history.
If the game laws were rescinded, thousands of local tradesmen, who depend largely on the custom of the * big house,* would be ruined ; tens of thousands of gamekeepers, gunmakers, cartridge-factory hands, and the like would be thrown out of employment, and in return you would have established the principle, futile in conception and barren in results, that the land and all that on it is belongs to the people.
THEIR DEFENCE 15
Social reformers of to-day seem only too apt to attack existing institutions which seem to minister to the pleasures of the few, without pausing to consider on what basis they rest, and how far they are conducive to the welfare of the community. Fair play all round has from time immemorial been the boasted characteristic of our race, and if people would only try to approach such a subject as this with a comparatively open mind, listen to what both sides have to say on the question, and then work the matter out to a reasoned conclusion, they would surely be led to better ways of thinking.
On the other side it cannot be too strongly impressed on sportsmen that their sport is a luxury, which they enjoy through the toleration of the community, and that their responsibilities are not at an end when they have paid the rent of the shooting and taken out a game license.
Their attitude towards the dwellers on the land they shoot over cannot be too considerate and thoughtful. Here, for
16 PARTRIDGES
once, duty and self-interest walk hand in hand ; to make the lives of those around you a little brighter for your presence is not only right, but, on a partridge-shooting, is like bread cast upon the waters and brings a sure reward.
By having every man on your shooting a friend, you will best answer your de- tractors, strengthen your own position, and silence the voice of adverse criticism.
pAUTUIDf.E AND YoUNG.
CHAPTER II
NATURAL HISTORY
Distribution and life-history of the partridge — Red-legged partridges — Foreign varieties suitable for introduction — Cookery of the partridge.
The common partridge, known indiffer- ently to scientists as Perdix Perdioo or Perdioc cinerea, and more familiarly to sportsmen as * the little brown bird/ is a member of a large family, no fewer than 152 species of partridges and their affinities being recognized by ornithologists.
Besides our own indigenous bird, but one other species is resident in the British Isles, the red-legged partridge [Caccabis 7nifa), which hails from the extreme south-west parts of Europe, and was first introduced into England in the reign of Charles II.
X7 2
18 PARTRIDGES
While we thus have in this country a representative of each of the two main branches of the family, tetraonine and galline (the latter comprising all the numerous species of red-legged partridges, distinguishable by the strong, blunt spurs of the cocks), it is still somewhat surprising, considering the almost infinite variety of pheasants that flourish in our midst, to note that no other kinds of partridges have been successfully established.
Mr. Walter Rothschild, one of the first authorities on this branch of ornithology, has given a list of over twenty varieties which he considers well adapted to hold their own in our somewhat uncertain climate.
Especially does he recommend the Lerwa partridge, a handsome bird with chestnut-red and grey plumage, a native of the high ranges of the Himalayas. Strong on the wing and as large as a grouse, this Indian species might be a very desirable acquisition on high and broken ground.
NATURAL HISTORY 19
Then there are the snow partridges or snow cocks ( Tetraogallus), of which each considerable range of mountains in Asia seems to have a distinct species. The two varieties which Mr. Rothschild deems most suitable for introduction hail from the high tops of the Caucasus and the Himalayas respectively. They are at once the shyest and wildest, and the finest of the partridge race, being as large as a hen capercailzie. Despite their size, they could not be mistaken for anything but a real partridge, and look a true and noble game bird in their beautiful plumage of silvery-grey and white, the naked patch behind the eye making a splash of orange vermiHon, which contrasts pleasingly with the more sober and delicate tones of the general colour scheme.
While we would gladly welcome these fine mountain-dwellers as a splendid addi- tion to our native fauna — and it would indeed lend a new interest to the scenery if one might look to flush the mighty snow cock among the barren solitudes of
20 PARTRIDGES
the high tops — yet it is not easy whole- heartedly to subscribe to Mr. Rothschild's dictum, that it is certain that they would do admirably on our north country fells and Scots mountains. One scents diffi- culties in the path ; though, so far as the food supply is concerned, they would probably thrive on the same scanty fare of roots, berries, grass, and moss that keeps the ptarmigan so plump and lusty, yet surely the high mountain sides of Asia must have a climate far drier and colder than our own, and one cannot but doubt that, unless expense were no object, the cost of the experiment might be out of all proportion to its results.
Continuous wet and rain are far the most trying conditions to all wild life, and to a new-comer, unacquainted with all the clever devices which the natives employ to keep themselves dry, might well prove fatal at the outset.
Still, I have seen Crested Cranes from the sun-baked plains of Kordofan thriv- ing among the damps and mists of the
NATURAL HISTORY 21
west coast of Scotland, nor would I seek for an instant to discourage any one from the attempt ; only let him * gang warily,' and, despite what he may find in books on the subject, by no means consider success in his praiseworthy efforts assured from the start.
There is one partridge from Western Mongolia (P. bai^bata or dailrica), whom it would be quite reasonable to assume would do well with us, accustomed as he is to a cold, wet climate and a heavy soil. He is not unlike our own grey partridge in general appearance, save for the superior attractions of a black horse- shoe on a golden-bufF breast, and the remarkable addition to the ordinary garb of a partridge in the form of well-grown ginger whiskers, or to speak more scientific- ally yet perhaps less descriptively, of certain elongated lanceolate feathers on the sides of the throat. He would be an attractive novelty in a countryside, and perchance one's eye might be caught by his flowing whiskers as he topped the
22 PARTRIDGES
fence, giving us that extra six inches forward that some of us want so badly.
The partridge which is probably the best for introduction to this country is not, strictly speaking, a partridge at all ; but as he is at least a cousin of the grey partridges, and the members of his race {Bonasa) are commonly and indiscrimin- ately, if erroneously, called partridges, pheasants and chickens by sportsmen, it may not be altogether amiss, after due apology for his presence, to accord him a passing mention in these pages.
The small hazel hen of the Carpathians {Bonasa sylvestris) is akin to the Ruffed Grouse, Sage Cock, and Spruce partridges of North America. He is a handsome fellow with grey plumage, blended with every shade of red and brown ; the back and wings have crescent - shaped black markings edged with white, the throat is black, surrounded by a white line, while the feathered legs betray his affinity to the grouse. The flight is noisy, rapid, but not protracted, a covey when flushed
NATURAL HISTORY 23
soon settling again in the trees, where they remain motionless, and where only a trained and quick eye can pick them up.
Their note is a low melancholy whistle, and they are easily called by means of a peculiar instrument, extensively used in Roumania, where they abound, and so constructed that the performer can imitate at will the call of either cock or hen to attract members of the opposite sex. Apart from the sport he affords, the hazel hen has a strong recommenda- tion to our favour, for he is quite the best bird in the world to eat, with flesh white in colour, and of a peculiar and eminently palatable flavour.
Hazel hens find their natural home among rough and dense forests on hill- sides of no great altitude ; their range extends northwards through Scandinavia, southwards as far as China and Japan, while the Ardennes form their western limit in Europe.
Their food consists of the shoots and
24 PARTRIDGES
buds of birch and hazel, berries and other fruits, worms, insects and their larvse.
There seems no reasonable cause why they should not thrive and multiply with us, if once introduced ; and as their natural haunts in this country are now only tenanted by the occasional caper- cailzie, they would add greatly to the attractions of a type of country which is now practically gameless. This bird deserves especial notice at this present time, when the low estate of our wood- lands and the advantages of growing our own timber have become questions of national interest, and every year we may expect to see more and more waste and unproductive hill land turned into forest and woodland.
Several other members of the partridge family have from time to time been given a trial in this country, but never with more than a partial success. Such incon- clusive results do not, however, warrant the assumption that none of the strangers are likely to do well with us, for it must
NATURAL HISTORY 25
be borne in mind that the initial attempts to introduce a new species have generally ended in failure, and that the eventual success has usually been gained by per- sistence in face of repeated disappoint- ments.
It is only a hundred years since Yarrell, the best authority on birds of his day, wrote bewailing the approaching ex- tinction of the Chinese pheasant (P. torquatus), then a recent and much- admired introduction ; yet, after all, the new-comer proved more than capable of holding his own, ousting the old Indian pheasant wherever they met, till now not one in ten thousand of our pheasants but bears marked trace of ring-necked blood.
The Duchess of Bedford has kindly furnished me with the following notes on the various foreign partridges which have been turned out experimentally in the park at Woburn Abbey : — ** We once turned out some Black partridges {Fi^ancolinus vulgaris — a native of Pales- tine and Asia Minor), but they disappeared.
26 PARTRIDGES
We have a large number of Chukor {Caccabis chukor — an Indian species akin to our red-legged partridge), which do fairly well and would do better if they did not fight so desperately in the spring, even to the death. They do not appear to stray at all, and 1 only know of one ever having been shot outside the park.
** We have also turned out a good many Bamboo partridges (Bambtisicola Fytchii — from N.E. India) ; these have bred with us and there are always a few about, but they cannot be said to do very well. They seem to disappear, as one sees them in summer with strong, well-grown broods, and yet they do not increase.
** One was shot near Bedford, twelve miles away, a few years ago, and a large drawing of it by Frohawk appeared in the Field as a * hybrid pheasant and partridge,' Mr. Tegetmeier writing a long article upon the bird I "
The Red-legged or French partridge
NATURAL HISTORY 27
is now firmly established in our eastern and southern countries, though still a stranger in the north and west. In Scotland he is unknown, though recently some have been turned down in the sandy soil of Aberdeen, where they would seem likely to thrive and multiply.
First brought over to this country about the middle of the seventeenth century and enlarged in Windsor Forest, by far the largest influx coincided with the rush of other emigi^es from France, such time as the shadow of the guillotine lay dark on that sunny land. Most of the new-comers were turned out on Norfolk and Suffolk estates, spreading thence through the neighbouring counties.
Commonly known as Frenchmen, the name seems singularly apposite, for they have many of the qualities and character- istics we are wont to attribute to the French nation. They are gay in appear- ance, and their showy plumage of olive- brown back, blue-grey and rufous brown breast, black and cream throat, and flanks
28 PARTRIDGES
boldly barred with black, pale buff, and intense red, forms a striking tout ensemble which quite throws into the shade the quiet, unostentatious dress of our native bird.
They seem fond of publicity, and are always en evidence, strutting about in the middle of the open fields, when the grey partridges have sought privacy in the seclusion of some quiet corner.
They are of a restless and nervous disposition, have marked and unaccount- able dislikes for certain fields, and effectu- ally disappoint the theorist, who would base on their actions in the past any guidance as to their probable behaviour in the future.
Their domestic arrangements seem strange in our eyes. While our English partridge is the most considerate and consistent of mothers, laying, sitting and hatching with a business-like punctuality, and generally conducting the affairs of her household with a commendable, if humdrum, regularity, so that under given
NATURAL HISTORY 29
conditions you may with tolerable cer- tainty forecast the progress of events, with the French partridges it is quite otherwise. In the first instance, they may travel miles before they happen on a nesting-place which suits their wayward taste ; then they will lay their eggs at quite uncertain intervals of time, and desert the nest at any moment for no accountable reason. Even when sitting, they will suddenly leave eggs on the verge of hatching, stay away for days together, and unexpectedly come back to hatch off a brood, just when the nest has been written down as a failure.
While they have earned a bad reputa- tion as mothers, they will often astonish the world in general by successfully bring- ing up a large family in a happy-go- lucky sort of way. For some reason they seem to suffer less from wet seasons than English birds, and often do fairly well when all the chances seem against them.
Finally, just as was the case with our
30 PARTRIDGES
neighbours across the Channel, we hated and persecuted them so long as we mis- understood them ; but now, happily, in the partridge world as elsewhere, a better understanding prevails, an entente cordiale has been established, and it is no longer deemed impossible for French and English neighbours to live together in amity.
Before the introduction of driving, French partridges were very unpopular. They have a marked proclivity for running, and were equally annoying to sportsmen, as detrimental to the manners of young pointers, in dogging days. They were also accused of driving away English birds from their nests, though under modern conditions this is certainly not the case, the grey partridges generally coming off best when it comes to fisti- cuffs. Probably the truth was that owing to the difficulty of getting up on them when walking, many French par- tridges survived to a ripe old age, and the race suffered from the misdeeds of individuals, any barren or bachelor old
NATURAL HISTORY 31
partridge being equally mischievous in the spring.
They suffered and survived severe persecution ; keepers trampled on their nests, and generally treated them as vermin ; now, however, they have been restored to favour, their value on driving ground admitted, and on most estates, where they exist, they are encouraged and preserved.
Apart from the peculiar propensities above mentioned, the life-habits of the red-leg are very similar to those of the common partridge. They seem to prefer waste lands, commons, or heath in the vicinity of cultivation ; object to grass lands even more strongly than their cousins, yet seem to do well on heavy clay sorl where the English bird fails. They would always rather trust to their legs than their wings for escape from danger, in which event the covey breaks up, each bird fending for himself. Their flight, when they do get up, is rapid and short ; they hardly ever swerve, but fly
32 PARTRIDGES
straight from point to point. The exist- ence of any hybrid between the two species has yet to be proved.
The range of the common partridge is wide ; draw a line on the map from Brussels to Venice ; roughly speaking, the country east of this line is its natural habitat, stretching northwards through Scandinavia almost up to the Arctic Circle, and ranging southwards as far as the Caucasus Mountains, and eastwards into Northern Persia and Central Asia up to the Altai Mountains, east of which range its place is taken by a smaller but closely allied species.
In this country the partridge is gener- ally distributed through every district where the land is cultivated and game preserved. The application of modern scientific methods to the care and pre- servation of partridges has gone far to modify their natural distribution.
The grey partridge with us has less traits of the migrant than perhaps any other of our native birds. Living in an
I'REXCH Partridge.
NATURAL HISTORY 33
equable climate, with a food-supply more or less assured throughout the year, he has become a real stay-at-home bird, and rarely cares to wander beyond the con- fines of his native farm. On the Con- tinent, however, where they are subjected to more violent climatic changes, par- tridges are of a more migratory habit, and shift their quarters freely, travelling far afield in search of food and shelter.
Formerly the light soils of the eastern counties of England were alone considered capable of supporting great numbers of partridges, as indeed they were capable of doing without any help from the hand of man, beyond the casual attentions of the old - fashioned gamekeeper. Now, however, it has been proved beyond all question that the heavier lands of Hamp- shire, Notts, Yorkshire, and half-a-dozen other counties can, under the modern methods of higher preservation, carry as heavy and, in some cases, even a heavier head of partridges than those more naturally congenial to game.
34 PARTRIDGES
The sober buff-brown and grey livery of our most familiar game bird is too well known among all country-dwellers to demand any detailed description. It was for long a popular and almost uni- versal belief that the chestnut horse-shoe on the breast was the distinguishing mark of the cock partridge. This error was duly set forth as a fact in the early text-books on ornithology, and as solemnly repeated in each succeeding work on the subject, though a very superficial acquaintance with anatomy and five minutes' examination of some dead birds would have served to put it right at any time.
But when writers are content to accept their facts at second hand, without any attempt to verify their accuracy, mistakes once made are apt to linger long and die hard. Thus it was only of recent years that it has been shown that the horse-shoe is not uncommonly absent in the cock, and almost invariably present among hens of the first year ; at the same
NATURAL HISTORY 35
time the true external marks of sexual difference were pointed out and finally settled/
Thus, while the sexes are alike in general appearance, and it is impossible to distinguish with any certainty between cock and hen when on the wing, there are certain constant and trustworthy distinctions which may be easily recog- nized on closer view, even among young birds at the opening of the shooting season. These marks of difference may thus be shortly summarized : —
(1) Median and lesser wing coverts (the smaller wing feathers towards the shoulder, covering the base of the double row of flight feathers or quills).
(rt) In the male. (i) In the female.
Ground colour dark, Ground colour black, wzVA
blotched on the inner tivo or three wide-set biiff
web with chestnut ; stripe cross bars, in addition to
of buff down each shaft, buff" shaft stripe. but no cross bars.
^ Letters of Mr. Ogilvie Grant of the British Museum, published in the Field, November 21, 1891, and April 9, 1892.
36 PARTRIDGES
(2) Feathers of neck.
(a) In the male. {!)) In the female.
Ground colour, greyish Ground colour, olive
brown to slate ; fine brown bars of black
irregular bars of black; broader and more distinct;
710 shaft stripe. shaft stnpe of pale buff.
(3) Crown of head.
(rt) In the male. {h) In the female.
Ground colour chestnut Ground colour chestnut brown ; small shaft stripes brown ; larger shaft stripes of same colour. of pale buff.
Birds of the year may be distinguished till November by the yellowish colour of their legs and feet ; towards the close of the year this is replaced by the slaty blue of the adult, the under part of the feet being the last to turn. A more certain distinction is the shape of the first flight feather of the wing, of which the end is pointed in a young bird, and rounded in birds which have undergone their second autumn moult.
Partridges from different districts vary somewhat in appearance ; the finest speci- mens, alike in bulk and riclmess of colora-
NATURAL HISTORY 37
tion (if one may thus speak of so modest and Quaker-like a habit), come from light and sandy soils. In some mstances the horse-shoe is nearly jet black, while in most old hens the horse-shoe becomes speckled chestnut and white, or even pure white.
Varieties in which the predominant hue is light fawn, pale buff, pied or pure white, are from time to time recorded from all parts of the country, but instances of true albinism or melanism are few and far between.
There is one type of variation from the normal so constant in its recurrence as to have at one time been granted the dignity of being classified as a separate species, under the name of Perdix viontaiid. This honour has now been justly rescinded, for the question is simply one of a superfluity of red-colouring pig- ment in the individual, though probably to some extent a hereditary tendency, and doubtless one largely influenced by food.
This seems to be a common type in
38 PARTRIDGES
the mountains of Lorraine, and though of less frequent occurrence in this country, yet scattered instances occur in every district where partridges are abundant, nor is it by any means confined to mountain and moorland, as some would suppose. The uniform characteristic of this variety is a more or less pronounced tendency to a rich chestnut-brown or rusty red colour which suffuses the natural plumage in varying degree, the most strongly marked specimens showing an almost complete replica of the colora- tion of a red grouse.
The hill partridge is another well- known, though unscientific, variety : he has learnt to be independent of the farmer, and is said only to mate with his own race. Hill partridges are smaller and darker in colour than the ordinary partridge, and, until the winter sets in, and they are hard put to it to eke out a livelihood, are generally found to be plump, well-conditioned, and of fine, wild flavour on the table.
NATURAL HISTORY 39
Though the scanty food-supply and manifold hardships incident to life among the bleak surroundings which they have chosen for their home prevent their ever increasing to anything like the numbers of their more favoured brethren of the arable lands, still they manage to hold their own in the struggle for existence, and on our northern fells, the bare heaths of Surrey, and the borders of most moor- lands there are always to be found a few coveys of these hardy stragglers. Seasoned perhaps by adversity, they seem to suffer less from the vagaries of our climate than the dwellers in the plains, and year in and year out little difference is to be noticed in their numbers.
The partridge chick, a tiny morsel of greyish brown down, with black mark- ings on the head and stripes down the back, usually comes into the world some time between the middle of June and the first weeks of July, the date of hatching being locally very constant, but varying in different districts, southern hatching
40 PARTRIDGES
earlier than eastern, and northern a week or so later.
For the first fortnight of their life, the dozen chicks which may constitute the covey have but a slender hold on existence. A sudden thunderstorm, or a succession of those chill and sunless days and dropping skies which the doleful experi- ences of recent years almost lead one to expect as the normal accompaniment of an English midsummer, means a sad tale of infantile mortality among the rising generation of partridges.
As soon as the chicks have dried after quitting the egg, the hen, with the cock in close attendance, leads them away to the nearest patch of cover. Apart from the dangers of inclement weather, and the ever-present dread of attack by some marauder, furred or feathered, their welfare is now influenced chiefly by the available supply of insect life, on which they depend entirely for their food till they are at least a month old.
Thus all extremes of weather at hatch-
NATURAL HISTORY 41
ing time are to be deplored, for while in wet and cold seasons, soaking grass, chilled and sodden lands, with undue prevalence of what golfers term * casual water,' will claim their victims by the thousand, a time of protracted drought will equally spell disaster, though after a different fashion.
Heavy lands then open in cracks and fissures, pitfalls for the unwary innocents ; cover from foes is scanty, and the chances of an epidemic of gapes, when the first rain comes, are much increased. These, however, are but minor evils ; the main trouble then is a universal dearth of insect life, and, deprived of their natural susten- ance, young partridges will continue to waste and die till well on in August.
Warm weather with light showers is what we all long to see at hatching time ; the warmth to ensure a favourable hatch, and the showers to ensure a sufficient swarm of the smaller forms of life.
When all goes w^ell, ants and ants' eggs, aphides, and all the unconsidered trifles
42 PARTRIDGES
of the insect world are assiduously sought for and devoured, the chicks soon learning to follow the clucking call of the hen in their humble forays, and to answer with a little chirp of their own, so feeble as to be almost imperceptible to our ruder ears.
On these expeditions the cock generally looks after the safety of the party, running on a few yards ahead, and giving a low note of encouragement when he is satisfied that all is well around and above them.
The young birds grow apace, can fly when only a few days old and little bigger than sparrows, and should no casualties have thinned their numbers have, after a week, grown too big for the hen to cover all at once, some then being entrusted to the sheltering wing of the cock.
Both cock and hen are assiduous and unremitting in the care and attention they give to their family. In the face of danger they will display a singular devo- tion to duty. Naturally timid in disposi- tion, when with their young they develop a rare courage, and besides the time-
NATURAL HISTORY 43
honoured device of simulating a broken wing to draw away the unwelcome in- truder, a stratagem so common in the bird world, they will fearlessly attack such formidable enemies as dogs and crows. A west country parson was recently driving along one of the winding lanes of Devonshire, and came suddenly on a brood of young partridges in the middle of the road. As he pulled up to avoid running over them, one old bird flew straight up at the pony's nose, and per- sisted in furious attacks until the other parent had led the whole brood over the bank into safety, when he quietly flew over the hedge to join them.
As the corn ripens, the covey spends most of the day among the growing crops, not with a view to any injury of the grain, which they rarely, if ever, meddle with while growing, but finding a plentiful harvest of their own anion 2f the wire- worms and other noxious grubs and insects, and the multitude of smaller weeds which flourish among the corn.
44 PARTRIDGES
At first streak of dawn the family are taken to dust themselves on the nearest sandy bank or roadway, a practice of which through life they are as fond as any ancient Roman of his bath, and which now helps to keep the young from wet and chill until the sun is up to warm the world. When the corn is led, they come to the stubbles as soon as it is light, to feed on the fallen grain, true perquisite of the wild, all kinds of seeds and grasses, spiders, slugs, beetles and such like. They then retire for the day to such cover as is available — turnips, clover, or waste land. They are particularly fond of a small aphis, which is found on the under side of turnip leaves in autumn. Late in the afternoon they seek the stubbles once more for the evening meal, and at dusk the covey, collecting with much conversa- tion, betakes itself to roost or 'jug,' generally on some open and rising ground, sleeping bunched in a circle, with the heads pointing outwards, to guard against the approach of danger.
NATURAL HISTORY 45
At three months the young birds are practically full-grown, and, undergoing the autumn moult, begin closely to re- semble the old birds in appearance. When winter sets in, the diet of the covey is limited by force of circum- stances ; the ploughed stubbles afford them some pickings, which, with weeds from the hedgerows, grass, turnip leaves, and, when they can get it, young clover, are all they have to rely on. In times of protracted frost they suffer in common with all other wild vegetarians or insect- feeders, only the carnivora then reaping an easy and plentiful harvest.
Few birds feel the influence of coming spring so early as the partridge ; a few warm, sunny days late in January, and the family which has lived together from the nest begins to disintegrate. The cocks, of which there are naturally a slight preponderance, fight freely, but for most part innocuously. So long as the fine weather holds, pairing goes forward apace, but a snap of cold reunites the
46 PARTRIDGES
family again, and it is generally not till the end of February that the ties are finally loosened, each pair setting up house on their own.
During the early spring, partridges are very fond of fallow and pasture, staying in the open all day, and we see more of our little friend then than at any other time of the year.
The choice of a site for the nest seems to be a very weighty matter ; a pair will prospect for weeks before finally deciding, and their eventual selection is often governed by considerations which we cannot even dimly apprehend. Any form of roughness close to the open spaces where they live, such as tussocks of coarse grass, briars, bracken, whins, rough hedgerows and the edges of young planta- tions, are the favourite spots ; though in these times of over-tidy farming many are driven to nest in the open fields, where the blades of the hay-cutter often bring sudden destruction to mother and nest alike. They have a strange predilection
NATURAL HISTORY 47
for roadsides and foot-paths, where the nest is in constant danger from passing boys and wandering dogs.
Some attribute this inconvenient habit to a desire for grit, which can thus be found quite handy to the nest ; but it seems more probable that this strongly marked tendency is rather due to the old birds welcoming the proximity of an open dry space where they can take their young when hatched.
The nest is a circular scrape in the bare earth, in which the drab-coloured eggs are daily laid, till the full number of anything between ten and twenty be reached. Nests with larger numbers, as many as thirty - five eggs having been recorded, can only be set down to the joint efforts of two hens laying in the one nest. Pheasants are sad offenders in this respect ; they constantly show a desire to set up house with the partridge hens, laying their eggs among the others, to the serious detriment of the family arrangements.
Partridges rarely lay their first egg
48 PARTRIDGES
more than an hour or so before noon, each subsequent egg being laid a little later in the day.
The eggs as laid are covered carefully with leaves and grass, which saves them from late frosts, and most effectually con- ceals the nest. When laying is finished, the birds proceed to arrange the nest for incubation, now placing the leaves and grass under the eggs, which are then neatly arranged in circles. During the two days or so that they are thus engaged, partridges are, for some reason, peculiarly sensitive to any disturbance, and will desert altogether if interfered with in any way. The hen sits for three weeks, and like others of the gallinaceous tribe is able to secrete her natural scent while sitting, which serves to protect her from her many foes. This loss of scent is probably in some measure due to the fact that the feathers are all pressed close to the body of the bird, for the scent returns to some extent shortly before hatching, when the hen ruffles out her feathers.
" Jugging."
NATURAL HISTORY 49
The cock takes no part in the actual incubation, but remains in close attend- ance on the hen while she is sitting. When the hen indicates that the eggs are due to hatch, the cock comes and sits close alongside of the nest, waiting patiently for the young birds to emerge ; he then takes them under his wing, one by one, as the hen hands them over to him.
Partridges, though generally a fairly hardy and healthy race, suffer at times from various diseases ; in a wet autumn numbers die from inflammation of the lungs, due to contact with the wet ground when their breasts are almost denuded of feathers ; enteritis and tuberculosis will at times claim their toll of the race ; while in districts where poultry-farming is largely carried on terrible epidemics of gapes occur at intervals, especially after a dry summer.
When overcrowded, young partridges are liable to a form of purulent oph- thalmia, ending in total blindness or death.
4
50 PARTRIDGES
Much has been heard of recent years about a mysterious and hitherto unknown disease, its exact nature undiagnosed, which is said to have decimated the par- tridges through wide districts in East Anglia and the southern counties, and which some would have us beUeve will eventually lead to the extermination of the race, if no measures of prevention be adopted.
Poisoning by arsenical wheat dressings, sickness induced by new-fangled chemical manures and sheep dips, contagion from the horde of Hungarians which have been let loose among our native birds, and a general deterioration of the partridge race from what they were in the time of our fathers, have been variously assigned as t\ie fons et origo malorum.
But the fact has still to be proved, before the causes thereof need be con- sidered. For though it may be admitted that occasional partridges have died from arsenical poisoning, and that there has been some wasting sickness where chemical
NATURAL HISTORY 51
manures have been freely used or Hun- garians extensively turned out, there is still no weight of evidence to warrant a conclusion that this disease can be dis- associated from, or indeed be regarded as anything but the natural outcome of, the unhappy succession of wet summers. Where fine weather at hatching time is the rule, the exceptional cold and rain of the last three years have reduced the stock of partridges to within a measurable distance of vanishing point, and such districts alone constitute the supposed * infected area ' ; in harsher, northern climates, where birds are better able to withstand unfavourable weather, no word is heard of unusual disease.
If in the years of plenty, which are surely due, partridges continue to die all the year round, the question will become one of urgency ; but in the meantime we can only wait and see, believing that in two good seasons lies the surest remedy for the decrease of partridges, and that this evasive and nameless disease cannot
52 PARTRIDGES
be regarded as a normal factor in the life of the partridge.
On heavy kinds partridges are much troubled by the soil clogging on their feet. A ball of clay is formed, which will grow, in wet weather, till the unfortunate bird can scarcely move, and is left by the covey to pine and die. In some cases this ball has been known to reach a huge size, when compared to the pound or so of the bird's own weight. Darwin mentions having taken a ball weighing 6f ounces from the foot of a partridge, and succeeded in growing no less than eighty- four plants from seeds contained in it.
It is not easy to determine what, for the partridge, is the equivalent of the threescore years and ten of man. Fifteen to seventeen years have been assigned as the limit, but whether this is near the mark or not is open to doubt ; nor is this question of longevity one which game- keepers can afford to solve for themselves, for on all preserved ground a partridge ceases to be at all a desirable resident
NATURAL HISTORY 53
after his second year. Here the general welfare of the race, and not the con- venience of the individual, is alone to be considered, and no partridge could be allowed to reach anything approaching his allotted span of years, whatever they may be, without serious detriment to the rest of the community. The ideal state of affairs, from the game-preserver's point of view, is that each pair of birds should fulfil their parental duties but once, or at most twice, and then, having achieved the object of their existence, make their exit, leaving it to their offspring to carry on the race.
Thus, since this chapter has been de- voted to the life-history of the partridge, and his career traced through the various stages of his existence, we may now, not inappropriately, regard his life as having reached its fitting termination, and con- clude by following him to the scenes of his last appearance — the kitchen and the dining-room.
On the table, the partridge can well
54 PARTRIDGES
bear comparison witli any other game bird. Gastronomically considered, a plump young English partridge must be conceded high place among the good things of this world. But he must be young and he must be English, for no amount of hanging will make a real old bird tender, while the Frenchman is a very inferior article in this respect, lacking the natural juices and delicate flavour of our native bird.
Given young birds, well-conditioned and properly hung, there is but one way to use them to the best advantage, and that the simplest. They should be roasted on the spit in front of a fire made up in such a manner as to produce more flame than glowing embers, cooking them not enough to make them dry, yet sufficiently to avoid all appearance of being underdone. The birds while being roasted may be partly covered with a thin slice of larding bacon ; this shields the fillets of the bird from drying, while the legs, which the heat takes much
NATURAL HISTORY 55
longer to penetrate than the other parts, are cooking. But with good and sufficient basting, the fillets may well be kept from drying even without this precaution.
This is by far the most satisfactory way, and does full justice to the bird. The alternative of roasting in the oven is very inferior, and should be avoided whenever it is possible. In the closed oven it is inevitable that steam should collect on the bird, and this tends to spoil the delicate flavour, which it is so important to preserve. When circum- stances over which they have no control make it necessary for cooks to use the oven, they should take special precautions to neutralize the bad effects of the steam, but where a closed range is in use, it only costs a few shillings to add a bottle-jack and roast the birds in the proper way.
Served at once, with due accompani- ment of bread sauce, bread-crumbs, and gravy made from the swilling of the drip- ping pan, roast partridge makes a dish, commonplace if you will, yet comparing
56 PARTRIDGES
more than favourably with the thousand- and-one intricate recipes from the modern chef's repertory, of which more anon.
Such birds as survive the ordeal of the dinner-table should be eaten cold the next day without any further culinary attention. To deal with old birds satis- factorily is a very different and difficult question ; probably it is best to use them only in the preparation of game stock or forcemeats. When they must be used for the table, they probably appear better as yerdrioc aux chouoc than in any other form ; a common and homely dish on the Continent, though far rarer in this country than its merits deserve. The methods of preparing pei^diix auoc choux are legion ; one simple and effective way is as follows : —
Quarter the cabbage, parboil and cool it. Defoliate the quarters ; suppress the outside leaves and the midribs of the remaining leaves ; season with salt and pepper, and put the cabbage in a sauce- pan garnished with slices of bacon, and
NATURAL HISTORY 57
containing one quartered carrot, one onion stuck with a garlic clove, one faggot, two-thirds pint of consomme, and three tablespoonfuls of stock fat per 2 lbs. of cabbage. Cover the old partridges with slices of bacon, lay them in the bed of cabbage and then braise gently for two to three hours.
There are exactly a thousand-and-one other ways of cooking a partridge, but with such material as good young English birds to wprk on, any treatment but the plainest can only tend towards spoiling a good thing, reminding one of Browning's lines, written, it is true, on a more romantic theme — a pretty woman — yet here apposite enough to excuse their being put to baser uses : —
Thus the craftsman seeks to grace the rose,
Plucks a mould flower
For his gold flower, Uses fine things that efface the rose.
In like fashion the many fine things which a modern chef uses to grace the partridge often result only in a triumph
58 PARTRIDGES
of culinary art, probably very unwhole- some, and in which the partridge itself is completely lost.
Most of these over-elaborated recipes were either devised on the Continent, where grey partridges are not always to be had, to give savour to the comparatively tasteless redleg, or else were invented in response to the insensate and insatiate demand for novelties to tickle the jaded palate of a certain over- luxurious class of modern society, the sort of people for whom the best is not quite good enough, a class with which let us hope that neither you, my gentle reader, nor I have any- thing in common.
One cunning concoction of this nature may serve as a fair sample of the rest ; and indeed this one is not without a certain historic interest of its own. It is thus given by the cordon bleu of the Carlton : —
Perdrix a la mode d' Alcantara, At the beginning of the campaign of
NATURAL HISTORY 59
1807 in Portugal, the library of the famous Alcantara convent was pillaged by Junot's soldiers, and its precious manuscripts used in the making of cartridges. An officer of the commissariat who was present happened on an old book of recipes selected by the monks, and among them the one now under notice, which was applied only to partridges.
It struck him as interesting, and after trying it when he returned to France in the following year, he gave it to the Duchesse D'Abrantes, who preserved it in her memoirs. It was perhaps, as Monsieur L'Escoffier remarks in a pathetic aside, the only good thing the French derived from that unfortunate campaign. Here is the simple little dish on which the worthy monks, who among other things if we remember aright were called upon to renounce the flesh, used to regale them- selves : —
Empty the partridges from the front ; bone the breasts and stuff them with fine duck's foies gras, mixed with quartered
60 PARTRIDGES
truffles, cooked in port wine. Marinade the partridges for three days in port wine and a litter of aromatics (chopped shallots, rosemary, thyme, bay, and parsley), taking care that the birds be well covered there- with. This done, cook them en cassei^ole. Reduce the port wine of the marinade ; add to it a dozen medium-sized truffles ; set the partridges on these truffles, and heat for a further ten minutes.
To which our authority adds this note : — This last part of the recipe may be advan- tageously replaced by the a la Souvaroff treatment — that is to say, having placed the partridge and the truffles in a terrine, sprinkle them with the reduced port combined with slightly buttered game glaze ; then hermetically seal down the lid of the terrine, and complete the cook- ing in the oven.
Junot and SouvarofF — there is un- doubtedly a fine Napoleonic ring about this preparation, but whether it be mere insular prejudice or not, still I would as lief have my partridges cooked in simpler guise.
CHAPTER III
HISTOmCAL
Early records of partridge-shooting — Great sportsmen of the eighteenth century — Matches — England v. Scotland in 1816, etc. — Methods of other days.
For some 3000 years, from the days of Nineveh and Babylon, whose sculptured stones bear figures of falconers with their hawks on the wrist, down to our own early Hanoverian times, hawking was the one gentlemanly fashion of taking the partridge. Ousted by the coming of the *vile saltpetre,' haggards and eyasses, sacres and sakerets, lannerets, tiercels, falcons of the rock and falcons gentle, with their lures, varvels, jesses and be- wits, have all gone their way, and are now to us only sounds without meaning, though the intricate and comprehensive
61
62 PARTRIDGES
language of the sport was once an indis- pensable part of the education of any one who could pretend to gentle blood.
Now only our London * mews ' — or ' places where hawks are kept ' — and the somewhat Gilbertian office of Hereditary Grand Falconer of England remain to remind us of the noble art of Falconry, though there are still some twenty or thirty country gentlemen in England who keep and fly their own hawks. Of the twenty kinds of falcons and hawks which were commonly used in sport, the peregrine falcon, the goshawk, and the hen sparrow-hawk were generally used to take partridges.
When hawking first fell out of favour, there was nothing ready to take its place, for the fowling-piece of the day was a cumbrous and unreliable engine. Thus while arms and ammunition were slowly improving, there ensued an interregnum in the world of sport, during which the practice of netting partridges, now rightly considered as arrant poaching, was
I
HISTORICAL 63
almost universally followed by country gentlemen.
In tlie old game licences — to qualify for the possession of which landed property of a fixed value or the rank at least of esquire was necessary — besides the more legitimate means of bows, guns, and hawks, we find frequent mention of " setting dogs and lurchers, hays, nets, lowbels, snares, or other engines to take game." The birds were either driven into a fixed net, or else found by dogs trained to lie down when near to game and allow the net to be drawn over them so that both dog and birds were entangled in the toils.
By the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury the old flint and steel locks had been greatly improved, and were better adapted for the -purposes of sport. Shooting be- came more popular, and netting was no longer considered fit sport for gentlemen. The reign of George III. saw a marked advance in all the material of shooting ; double barrels now came into use, the per- cussion cap and the patent breech were
64 PARTRIDGES
invented, and gunpowder of reliable quality was for the first time readily obtainable. Even then, the man with the gun must have been at a great disadvantage to our notions ; in the Art of Sltootiiig Flying explained, published in 1767, 'Aimweir gives as his advice to the 'young practitioner ' —
Briskly draw the trigger as soon as you have got an exact sight at the object, and continue to keep your muzzle at it for some time after you have drawn the trigger, lest your gun should hang fire, which if it happen to do will render your shot uncertain, especially if your mark is moving any way from the line ; but by means of keeping your gun in motion with the object, a shot may be recovered, though it hangs fire.
When one considers the doubtful execution of a piece about which such advice could be necessary, the tight and unsuitable attire then affected by sports- men, the large and miscellaneous assort- ment of powder-horns, dram-flasks, shot- belts, canisters, wadding, pivots, copper caps or flints carried on the person in the field, one is inclined to believe in
Partridgf.s ox Wixg.
HISTORICAL 65
Mr. Aimwell's final dictum that
sport is very uncertain, and even the best marks- men have oftentimes their miscarriages ; you may go out several times and not get many shoots, and unless a man is very alert, and strong enough to undergo a deal of fatigue, he can attain the art of shooting flying but very slowly.
Still the sportsmen of other days managed to get quite as much fun out of their shooting — though their weapons were uncertain and game scarce and hard to find — as any one who takes part in the less arduous but infinitely more produc- tive shooting of to-day. We have only to read their diaries, to find a naive, whole-hearted enthusiasm about shooting in general, and their own deeds in par- ticular, which seems somewhat lacking among their descendants.
The third Earl of Malmesbury, who began to shoot in 1798, closed the long record of his shooting career by entering in his diary that in 40 seasons he had fired 54,987 shots, killing 38,475 head of game (of which rather more than the fourth part were partridges), walking
66 PARTRIDGES
36,200 miles in doing so, adding in con- clusion that '* during these 40 seasons I was — God be praised for it — never con- fined to my bed by accident or sickness one day."
Shooting then called for the exercise of other qualities than mere accuracy of aim, and the man with the gun had to possess both considerable bodily endurance and a thorough knowledge of the ways and habits of his quarry, if he looked to make good bags — in a literal sense — for the products of a day's shooting rarely exceeded the normal capacity of a game- bag. But one would be sorry to ask many of the present generation of shooters to walk the best part of a mile for every head of game they killed, as Lord Malmes- bury did. The demand is for larger and easier-won results in these days, when one gun has been known to kill 300,000 head in some twenty-five years.
Another of the old school was the famous Colonel Peter Hawker, who followed his dogs on the stubbles of Long-
HISTORICAL G7
parish, his Hampshire home, and punted
after the geese on the Solent, for the first
half of the past centmy. The Colonel
wanted no hecatombs of slain to make
him a day's sport ; he would cheerfully
muster all hands on the report of a single
pheasant in his woods, spend the whole
day in pouring rain manoeuvring after
him, and come home in the evening to
enter in his diary — "Never had a more
successful day in my life ; outwitted a
magnificent old cock-pheasant."
To those who have no first - hand
acquaintance with the Colonel, we would
effect an introduction by an extract from
the said diary.
1816. Sept. 16th. Never in my life had such a satisfactory day*'s shooting. Although the birds were rather wild than otherwise for the time of year, and the number of coveys the Longparish fields contained were by no means considerable, yet I had the good fortune to bag 36 partridges and 1 hare with literally never missing a single shot and without losing one bird. I had 8 doublets and bagged both my birds every time, and having once killed 2 at one shot with my first barrel, I made 37 head of game in 36 shots.
68 PARTRIDGES
Had I at all picked my shots, I should not have thought this any very extraordinary performance, but so far from this a great number of my birds were killed at long distances, and with instant- aneous rapidity of shooting. I had my favourite 14<-o:auffe barrels of Joe Manton's and Mr. Butt's cylinder gunpowder. The same gun all day which was neither cleaned afresh nor even new flinted.
1828. Sept. 1st. Longparish. Strong east wind ; ground as dry as Lundyfoot's snuff, but a moderate breed of birds, and my two dogs on their last legs. Therefore performed a miracle by bagging 60 partridges (besides 6 more lost), 4 hares and 1 quail. Never in my life had such a fagging day. Our army were literally worked off their feed, to the joy of my commissariat ; but they drank their extra hog- tub full of stiff swizzle, which cost me more than the half of the sheep that they left.
3rd. By slaving like a negro from 10 till 5, I contrived to satchel 48 partridges (besides 3 brace lost). Weather so dry that the only plan was to walk all day with both barrels cocked, and snap down the birds as they rose wild from the stubbles.
6th. Was anxious to finish with 20 brace, and never had such a hard run to make up the number. The dogs were so done that even the falling of a bird would not move them from my heels, and I stood at 19 J brace for the last hour before night- fall. I had no alternative but marching up and
HISTORICAL 69
down at a rapid pace, without dogs, and treading the stubbles till I was ready to drop, but deter- mined to die game. I fought to the last, but through over-anxiety and fatigue, I missed two fair shots ; but, at last, just at the farewell of daylight a covey rose from the feed. I ' up gun ^ and down came a bird as dead as a hammer, a long shot ; so gave three cheers (the butcher's halloo for 20 brace) and came home in triumph with 40 partridges on a pole.
Thus far the Colonel, no bad type of the old English country gentleman, albeit a man of the world and no mean musician to boot. If these samples have interested any, we can recommend the whole diary, preserved for us by the hands of Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey. A good book for the * young idea,' wherein a later generation may take a lesson in pluck and endurance, for the Colonel would never own himself beat, handicapped though he was by somewhat indifferent general health and an unserviceable leg, for his thigh was shattered by a ball at Talavera, when serving with his regiment, the 14th Light Dragoons.
As guns and powder improved in
ro PARTRIDGES
quality, and the reduction in their cost placed them within reach of almost any one, the necessity for game being pre- served first became a matter of importance. So long as shooters were but few in the land, and their means of destruction so faulty, game contrived to take care of itself, little preservation was necessary, and sportsmen thought it no crime to wander on to other folk's ground and sample the game there. But with an ever-increasing horde of shooters, it soon became a question of either game becom- ing extinct or measures being taken for its preservation, and thus, of necessity, came the game laws and their enforce- ment. With the sixties came further advance, Laing introducing the breech- loader from France, a weapon of some- what uncertain results at the time, but which fifty years of steady improvement has developed into the hammerless ejector of to-day.
However superficially the history of shooting in this country be considered,
HISTORICAL 71
one striking feature cannot fail to arrest the attention — how, step by step, the improvement of guns and shooting has been attended by a proportionate increase of game. So far, the supply has kept pace with the demand ; but the limit must nearly have been reached ; no ground will carry more than a certain stock, however good the systems of pre- servation, and if there be still further advance in our seemingly perfect sporting weapons, game will surely be the sufferer. To return to our records of the past.
In other days it was the fashion — happily now discountenanced in every form of sport worthy of the name — to stake large sums of money on shooting events. The actual stakes were not often very heavy, but betting went on apace, until the champions went out for a day's partridge-shooting with thousands depend- ing on the result. Thus while Lord de Roos, Colonel Hon. George Anson and Captain Ross were passing a hot July afternoon in 1828 on the river, a casual
72 PARTRIDGES
discussion arose as to whether Captain Ross, admittedly the finest pigeon shot of the day, would hold his own as easily at game. Before they reached Whitehall Stairs, the terms of a match had been arranged, I^ord de Roos backing himself to find a champion to shoot partridges against Captain Ross for £200 a side on his own shootings at Milden in Suffolk ; the match to be decided in a single day, the 1st of November, the guns to walk forty or fifty yards apart, shooting from sunrise to sunset without any halt ; no dogs to be used.
Lord de Roos chose Colonel Anson as his champion, and the match duly came off, with unusually heavy betting on the result. Lord Anson offering to back his brother for £10,000. The guns paraded in the dark, and started at sun- rise by the watch in a thick mist. Colonel Anson set the pace, estimated at between 4^ and 5 miles an hour, and they kept this up to within a quarter of an hour of sunset, when the Colonel,
HISTORICAL 73
leading by one bird, found himself unable to go any further, and sent his seconds to offer a draw, which Captain Ross, who was still going as strong as ever, accepted, because he found it impossible to get a shot, the birds being all out feeding on the stubbles.
The number of birds killed was very small, only some 25 brace ; which was scarcely to be wondered at, considering how late in the season it was, and that the guns were accompanied by two or three hundred men on horseback, all talking and betting on the shot, and making what Captain Ross calls an ** in- describable row." When the draw was declared, Captain Ross, who, it must be remembered, had just walked close on forty- five miles in nine hours, offered there and then to start against any one present and race him on foot to London, some seventy miles, for £500 a side, but found no takers among the five or six hundred people present.
Such ghmpses of the past are surely
74 PARTRIDGES
enough to make us blush for our own generation of sportsmen, young gentlemen still on the sunny side of thirty, who call an eight o*clock breakfast "getting up in the middle of the night," must have a motor to take them within a few yards of the first drive, their guns carried for them from one stand to the next, and an aluminium shooting seat to support their weary forms at every halt. Truly there were giants in those days.
The match of most personal interest to myself is naturally that shot between England and Scotland, in which my home was selected to represent Scotland. From the windows of the room wherein I write can be seen the outline of a long wood of dark firs, where grand sport is to be had with the pigeon on a blustering winter's evening. This wood owes its name — Waterloo — to the great slaughter of partridges effected in the then newly- planted strip by Lord Kennedy on the day of his match.
My grandfather. Sir William Maxwell
HISTORICAL 75
of Monreith, resenting an account pub- lished of the match, in which it was stated that *'Mr. Coke of course won easily," wrote a description of the event, which I cannot do better than give here in his own words.
Here is the account of the match shot by Lord Kennedy in October 1823 : I was present all the time. My father made a bet, with I forget whom, that he would find a man to shoot a hundred brace of partridges in one day on his estate in Wigtownshire. He asked Lord Kennedy to do it for him, who, after pronouncing it im- possible, backed himself to shoot partridges two days in Scotland against Mr. W. Coke in Norfolk, in the month of October, on two days to be fixed ; chance of weather, etc., to be run by both parties. Lord Kennedy had intended to shoot his first day at Newton Don, near Kelso, and was not expected at Monreith for ten days. My father^ w,as from home, and I, only a boy of seventeen, here to receive him. He had travelled all night, and arrived at Port William, a neigh- bouring village, about 9 a.m. Hearing of his arrival, I went and found him, Valentine Maher (umpire for Coke), and Farquharson of Blackball,
^ Sir William Maxwell, 5th Bart., locally known as ^ VVunged Sir Wulliam/ having lost an arm from a round shot when commanding the 26th Regiment at Corunna.
76 PARTRIDGES
just finishing breakfast, surrounded by game- keepers and dogs of his own.
Lord Kennedy gave me a letter he had from Sir Alexander Don, saying he could not ensure him twenty brace of birds at Newton Don, as the corn w^as all uncut, and advising him to shoot both the days of his match with Coke at Monreith ; in consequence of which he had posted day and night, in order to be here in time for the first appointed day (as well as for the one hundred brace match). I told Lord Kennedy I could not let him go on the ground kept for the one hundred brace match. I went off in search of our gamekeeper. He said, at that hour in the day he could only take him to ground which had been shot over in September, or some which had been driven and disturbed with a view to the one hundred brace match.
About eleven o'clock Lord Kennedy started, and that day got between forty and fifty brace ; Coke shooting the same day at Holkham ninety- three brace. My father came home in the evening, having been nearly lost in a gale of wind the previous night in his yacht. He wished Lord Kennedy to stay and walk over the ground before the second day of the match ; but he did not, and only returned on the evening before the second day's shooting.
On that day (the one on which the hundred brace match was to be decided), at 11.30 a.m., when Lord Kennedy stopped to refresh at a farm-
HISTORICAL 77
house, he had sixty brace in his bag, and the best of the ground before him ; a fine still day. We had ready for him a brace of steady old setters, but he would not shoot a bird over them, insisting on using his own black pointers, never before shot over except on moors ; neither would he go to coveys marked into whins and broken ground ; he seemed to think that would not be fair, although Maher, umpire for Coke, agreed that he ought to do so.
The only 'hedge' my father had to a heavy book was a bet of some twenty guineas that Lord Kennedy would not get a shot in twenty minutes, if he persevered over a line of bare grass fields, instead of going to the marked and driven coveys.
As it was, he got ninety-three brace and a half, and Coke at Holkham ninety-six. I think these were the numbers ; at any rate, neither of them made the hundred brace to bag, while each shot more than ninety brace. A great many dead birds were picked up here afterwards. Both Val. Maher and Farquharson were disappointed in Lord Kennedy's shooting. I have never seen any- thing like it. Certainly very few birds were missed, and the whole ground was strewed with cripples for days afterwards. I recollect my father saying nothing on earth would induce him to allow another match on his ground. I am convinced Lord Kennedy killed and 'kiW 120 brace that day.
He shot homewards, and during the last two
78 PARTRIDGES
hours of daylight lost a deal of time by his dogs bothering with hares and pheasants going out to feed, and his last two shots were a cock and hen pheasant.
None of us had the least doubt — nor, after the event, had Lord Kennedy himself — that he would have killed over one hundred brace had he shot over our old dogs and gone where our game- keepers advised. I remember being told that Coke had his birds driven into turnips, and shot over an old pointer 'as slow as a man"* both days.
Wigtownshire beaten by Norfolk, for two days, was by no means a matter of course in those days.
On a neighbouring estate Lord Garlics backed himself to shoot fifty brace in one day the year before. No preparation — no driving of birds. Despite a bad start through a wet and stormy morning, when the wind fell and the sun came out he made such good use of his time that he stopped at three o'clock, having killed some fifty-six brace, after offering to double his bet that he would shoot eighty brace ; but the ease with which it miffht be done was so evident that no one would
CD
take it.
I have little doubt that if Lord Garlics had undertaken our match instead of Lord Kennedy we should have won ; not that Lord G. was the better shot of the two, but he would have taken advice and kept his temper better.
Alas that Galloway should have fallen
HISTORICAL 79
so far from her high estate in the sporting world since those halcyon days. I have often seen this instanced as the results of bad management and slackness in pre- serving, but this has little to do with the matter. Slackness and want of method there may be, but in the disuse of the plough lies our real trouble. Formerly every available acre was cultivated, but now we have three or four grass fields to one that is under crop. Where this is the case, no human skill can produce a big stock of partridges, as stocks are reckoned nowadays.
We can still show good sport, drives from some turnip-field bordering on the moorland, where you shall have fair chance of killing every form of game, from a blackcock to a snipe, at the one stand, but for partridges alone we can never again hope to compete with Norfolk on equal terms, nor indeed with neighbours on our own East coast, where probably only one field in four is pasture.
CHAPTER TV
PRESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
Partridge ground, good and bad — Keepers and their work — The various systems of modern preservation.
Perhaps the simplest way to deal with the questions of partridge ground good and bad, and the preservation and management thereof, will be to take as example an estate without a single * crab ' to it — the sort of place one dreams of sometimes after a good dinner, but never meets with in real life — and consider in some detail the leading features and char- acteristics of this earthly paradise. Need- less to say, this gem without flaw is not one which any one can hope to materialize in all respects, but it is the right way to set about things, to set up an unattainable ideal — " to hitch your waggon to a star,"
80
i^— r
'Ifr
"^r
(i) CiooD Xestixg Ground.
(2) Bad Xesting Ground.
PRESERVATION 81
as Emerson says — and see how closely, with the more limited means at our disposal, we may attain to it in practice.
It may also serve as some guide for any would-be owners or lessees of partridge - shootings, who are not well acquainted with the business, as to what points should be borne in mind in apprais- ing the worth of a shooting. Our estate, then, is of some 8000 acres in extent, wide enough scope to make of it a little world of our own, yet not of such size as would render it unhandy to manage or unwieldy to supervise. It all lies in a ring fence, with no awkward projections of land into neighbours' territory, or in- cursion of Naboth's vineyards among our own farms.
The general lie of the ground is gently undulating, with long, level slopes of a warm and sunny exposure. On every side the estate marches with other large and well-preserved manors, and the whole length of the boundary, principles of *give and take' work to the mutual
82 PARTRIDGES
advantage of all. This is an important consideration, for if, as is only too commonly the case, the neighbouring ground suffers unduly from powder and shot, there will be a steady drain on your young birds to replenish a depleted stock, while unpreserved ground harbours an un- limited supply of vermin, which periodic- ally swarm over the boundary, joyfully to take possession of your swept and garnished house, giving the keepers all their work to do over again. The climate is as equable and dry as may be looked for in these islands, such rainfall as there is being well distributed, and storms of rare occurrence.
The soil is light but mixed, light loam and sandy ground predominating, with some admixture of stronger and heavier land. Scattered over the estate, small patches of waste and sandy land, not repaying the labour of cultivation, and covered with bracken, whins, and heath, make splendid natural nesting-ground and shelter. With this exception, and omit-
PRESERVATION 83
ting the 500 acres of park and policies, practically the whole estate is cultivated on a four years' course, most of the land being too light to be laid down in per- manent pasture. This is, of course, an essential condition if you wish the land to carry a heavy stock of partridges, and in many parts of the country the ever- increasing waste — to the game preserver's eye — of land laid down in permanent grass presents a partridge problem of which no solution seems possible. The ground is fortunate in being well watered by a number of springs and streamlets, and a dry summer can be faced with equanimity.
No main line of railway, with deadly maze of telegraph wires, crosses the estate; roads, footpaths, and rights-of-way are not inordinate in number, while the popula- tion is purely agricultural and the farms above the average in size. The fields run big, some reaching 60 to 80 acres ; they are, for the most part, divided by solid earthen banks with sloping sides, which,
84 PARTRIDGES
fenced on either side and planted with broom, provide the best of ground for birds to nest in. There are no ditches to trap young birds. The whole ground is further divided into squares of from 200 to 250 acres by belts of hardwood trees, standing ten to twenty deep and some 50 feet in height. These again provide sites for hundreds of nests, and are invaluable for the purposes of driving in the autumn and for shelter at all times.
On this Utopian manor of ours the ground is watched and the game cared for by a most efficient staff. First there is the head-keeper, on whose qualities the welfare of the shooting so largely depends. He is one of the modern school, vigorous, alert, and enterprising ; perhaps not such an entertaining companion by flood and field as the veterans of other days ; he may fail to amuse by quaint turn of phrase or picturesque appearance, nor will he have the time to turn and saunter along with you for half an hour's leisurely conversa- tion when you chance to meet.
PRESERVATION 85
But he is the riglit stamp of man for all that ; courteous to all and yet familiar with none, considerate of the interests of others yet never unmindful of his master's, he has justly earned the respect of the whole countryside. Fair and just in all his dealings, his underlings know that while good work will not pass un- recognized, no slovenly or slipshod ways will be for an instant condoned. He has no slight knowledge of natural history, and moves through life with an observant eye and an open and adaptive mind, not wedded to tradition, but ever ready to consider new theories or suggestions and turn them to his purpose. In the field he never gets hustled or flurried, and is quick to make the best of unlooked-for contin- gencies when they arise. His books are accurately and neatly kept, and require little or no endorsement at the hands of the agent ; for he is a business man with all his energies and faculties concentrated on his work, only asking of his sub- ordinates what he freely gives himself —
86 PARTRIDGES
cheerful and ungrudging service and a whole-hearted devotion to duty.
Not a man to be pitied our head- keeper, despite all Mr. Owen Jones says about keepering being such a badly paid profession. As head on a large estate he draws £70 to £80 a year in wages, £30 to £50 a year in tips, with a good house, garden, and the usual allowances ; better pay than many a struggling parson can look for — and as he is really fond of his work for its own sake, our keeper may be fairly considered as one who is contented with his lot — which is no small thing to be in this restless generation. Finally, he is a good master to his dogs, careful of their welfare, patient with their education, and proud of their appearance and per- formances in the field.
There are eight other keepers on the estate ; with two of these we have no con- cern here, for their duties lie entirely within the demesne where the two thousand pheasants which furnish the annual covert shoot are reared and main-
PRESERVATION 87
tained. The duties of the remaining six underlings are solely confined to the part- ridges ; each has his own beat to look after, each beat compact and self-con- tained, and varying in size from the 700 acre beat round the village, with small fields bounded by rough hedges and much intersected by roads and paths, to the 1500 acre beat where the fields are large and open, with little rough ground to harbour vermin or increase the difficulty of finding the nests.
The under-keepers also belong to the modern school ; they are to a man young, brisk, intelligent, and hard-working ; well- disciplined, they are still quite ready to accept responsibility on occasion. They are not permanencies, as they all mean to make their way in the world. Meantime, though they have a hard life and draw but modest wages, they are having the finest training in the world for their pro- fession. Five years' insight into the work- ings of a really well-managed estate is worth half a lifetime of casual experience.
88 PARTRIDGES
and will fit a man with his wits about him and his heart in the work for any head- keeper's place. The conditions and sur- roundings may be very dissimilar, but his education will apply anywhere. He will have learnt to work hard himself and expect others to work hard under him ; to live on good terms with all those around him, while avoiding undue familiarity with any ; to move about his business with energy, never quite satisfied with the past, always seeking to do a little better in the future ; to profit by failures, working out for himself how and why things went wrong ; and finally to take an honest pride in himself and his work. If they want their shootings run efficiently and economi- cally, proprietors when selecting a head- keeper should always consider what school he has been trained in rather than what is the actual range of his experience.
So we lose the services of one or other of the under-keepers most years. This does not in practice prove such a handicap as would appear, for the head-keeper has
PRESERVATION 89
always got his eye on some likely lad, and the infusion of fresh blood is, on the whole, healthy, and tends to keep things alive.
The keeper's year may now be said to begin with the calendar, for the driving is all over before the end of December. The regular shooting once finished, a man is rarely taken off his beat, for it is recognized that there is quite enough work on his own ground to keep his time well filled.
The first three months are given up to getting the ground in order for the nesting season. Odd cock pheasants have to be pursued and killed, any superfluous hares taken off the ground, and wounded and wasting partridges cleared off. Then the rabbits have to be taken in hand, and trapped and shot to the verge of extinc- tion, or they will multiply apace and give trouble later on. When foxes are pre- served rabbits are of some value in occupying their attentions, but otherwise they are an unmitigated nuisance on partridge ground, a prolific source of
• T,
88
PARTRIDC
W(
and will fit a man with h;
and his heart in the w(
keeper's place. The c
roundings may be ve
education will apply
have learnt to
expect others to
live on good ten
him, while avoidj
any ; to mov(
energy, neverj
always seekij
future ; to
for hims<
wrong ;
in hims
their
callyj
ke<
'I
16
lie
out
went
.st pride
ney want
d economi-
mg a head-
T what school
;r than what is
erience.
of one or other 5t years. This iuch a handicap ead-keeper has
**H|
it is
*ougli work
ji his time well
-hs are given up to
irder for the nesting
peasants have to he
ay superHuous hares
and wounded and
red off: Then the
to ix iken in hand, and
^hot t I ^e verge of extinc-
Jt will 11 1 iply apace and give r on. Vhen foxes are pre- abbits aiu jf some value in M their attetions, but otherwise ^ an unmi^ated nuisance on ige ground, a prolific source of
90 PARTRIDGES
trouble, and a standing attraction to vermin. Then the nesting-ground has all to be thoroughly gone over, gaps in hedges filled, fences repaired, game covers trimmed and their banks strengthened — not work that the keeper has actually to do himself, but the necessity for which he must note and point out to the estate authorities, or it is apt to be overlooked.
Finally, and by far the most important of all, the early spring is the season to seriously tackle the ever-present question of vermin. Desultory warfare there always is between the keeper and the carnivora, but now stoats, weasels, hedge- hogs, and cats must be sought for and trapped with unremitting energy. Crows, magpies, and sparrow-hawks have to be found and singled out for destruction, before other matters begin to press. Each beat-keeper is constantly round his ground at this season, with spade, ferret, and traps. Every trace of his enemies is carefully noted ; tracks, droppings, even a dead rabbit all tell their own tale, and
PRESERVATION 91
clearly bespeak their origin to the pro- fessional eye. Besides the common gin, each keeper knows how to use snares, deadfall, and figure - of - four traps on occasion, and has a large * hugger' trap for the special edification of poaching dogs and cats. Every rabbit hole in the banks and hedgerows, once cleared of its occupants, is carefully filled up, lest it should acquire new tenants or serve to harbour wandering vermin. The use of the gun is not encouraged among the keepers, its employment only being sanctioned where the trap and the spade are useless.
Vermin money is never allowed, for we hold that it would be working on quite a wrong principle to allow extra pay — as if it was for something quite outside his ordinary work — for perhaps the most important of a keeper's regular duties. This widespread custom further places a dangerous temptation in a young man's path, and there have been many instances of keepers treating vermin as
92 PARTRIDGES
**the goose that lays the golden eggs," and practically farming them on a small scale, to their own profit and the detri- ment of the ground. Reprehensible, no doubt, but very natural, and if instead of paying a shilling for a sparrow-hawk in April you have to allow five shillings for five hawks in August, when all the mis- chief has been done, you have really only yourself to thank.
While on the subject of allowances, it may also be noted that farming by the keepers is not countenanced ; each keeper may have his cow, but it is considered that his work, if properly attended to, will not allow him spare time enough to keep and look after stock. On the other hand, the under-keepers are well treated ; their wages are above the average, each man getting from £l a week, a good house, coals, and a cow's grass. In addition each receives annually a suit of the uniform worn on the estate, a tough and serviceable homespun of dis- tinctive pattern, and a thick waterproof
PRESERVATION 98
cloak for night-watching, renewed when necessary.
In a work on keepers and their hves published last year,^ it was laid down that all rabbits and pigeons killed were the fair perquisite of the keeper, and even that he had a fair claim to any game killed by vermin or ' chance-killed game ' unsuitable for his employer's table. As in the same chapter it is stated that the keeper " puts his best work into his garden, which is often the model plot of a rural community," and also that he " may keep fowls at his employers expense, make money by dog-breeding and exhibiting, earn vermin and rabbit money (whatever that is) as extra pay, and receive from his employer — if a generous master — a brace of pheasants and a hare to take home with him after every shooting party," it is fairly clear that this is not our standard of a gamekeeper ; but it does seem a pity to advance such dangerous theories in an otherwise excellent and deservedly widely
^ A Gamekeeper's Note-Book, by Owen Jones.
»«
92
PARTRrGES
I
**the goose that lays he golden eggs," and practically farming them on a small scale, to their own prit and the detri- ment of the ground, leprehensible, no doubt, but very natura and if instead of paying a shiUing for sparrow-hawk in April you have to alio ' five shillings for five hawks in August, v^hen all the mis- chief has been done, yci have really only yourself to thank.
While on the subje*. of allowance may also be noted thi farming by keepers is not countenj iced ; eac'^ may have his cow, bn it is that his work, if proerly will not allow him spa* tii keep and look after stc k. hand, the under-keepe) their wages are above man getting from £ house, coals, and addition each recj of the uniform tough and serj tinctive pat]
t^
iial
./ keep
.iise, make
and exhibiting,
. money (whatever
, and receive from his
erous master — a brace
aare to take home with
oting party," it is fairly
s lot our standard of a
- tt does seem a pity to
a dagerous theories in an
feellen and deservedly widely
^keeper's Ne-Book, by Owen Jones.
^
I
94 PARTRIDGES
read book. A gamekeeper has every opportunity for cheating his employer if he be so disposed, and it is most important that the bargain between them should be clearly defined, leaving no shadowy boundary between right and wrong through which a weak man may drift from a casual regard of what is other people's property to a career of downright dishonesty.
However favourably we may wish to picture this estate, we cannot, if it is to bear any relation to actual fact, suppose that it numbers no rats among its in- habitants. In March, then, the rats are poisoned in their holes ; not casually but most systematically, the joint efforts of the whole available staff being con- centrated on each part of the ground in turn. Any rats fortunate enough to escape these attentions have still the beat- keeper to reckon with, and thus it is often the case that when the nesting season begins, there is scarcely a rat on the whole ground. This desirable state of
PRESERVATION 95
affairs would, of course, be impossible of attainment were our neighbours on every side not equally zealous in extirpation.
Hedgehogs are dealt with about this time too, an old dog having been trained to hunt them after dark on grass-lands, at which time they are easiest to find, though secure from human foes unless some one with a nose is added to the party. Thus, after steady trapping throughout the year — perhaps a trap to every four or five acres is always in use — culminating in a regular crusade in the early spring, the end of April finds the enemies of game a negligible quantity and there is one danger the less to be reckoned with.
Vigilance must, however, not be wholly relaxed ; with May come wandering families, of stoats, anxious to settle down where food is plentiful, and there are always other casual nomads of the vermin world to be guarded against.
The system on which we work in the nesting season is to assist the methods of nature in every way we can, but never to
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supplant them by methods of our own, recognizing that the partridge is a better parent than any substitute we can hope to provide, and that birds reared under natural conditions in a wild state make the best and healthiest stock.
At the end of April each keeper has served out to him a large scale map of his beat, and a tabulated notebook in which to keep his records. From the first week in May till the old birds have begun to sit — after which time undue disturbance of the ground must be avoided — the keepers are out from dawn till close on mid-day systematically hunting for the nests. Each nest as found is marked on the map with a number in a circle, and under the corresponding figure in the note- book is entered the day on which the bird began to sit, the number of eggs hatched and addled, what eggs were changed or added to the nest, and the cause of any disaster, should it occur. About two- thirds to three-fourths of the total nests — the proportion varying according to the
PRESERVATION 97
season and growth of herbage — are thus found and accounted for.
The summarized results are vahiable as a work of reference in after years, for they show most clearly what the work in the past has been worth, and how far measures taken to rid the partridges of their enemies, improvise or construct nesting-ground, or improve the stock by change of blood have proved successful.^
The definite aim of keeping his records up to date also helps to keep a man up to his work. The maps and records of each beat-keeper are occasionally checked by the head-keeper and his master — for we naturally like to fancy ourselves as owner of this place, taking a real interest in the keepers and their work all the year round ; the beat-keeper then produces his map, half-a-dozen nests are selected there- from at random, and the accuracy of his notes tested first - hand. This guards against the possible danger of a man
^ The benefits of a successful change of blood should be realized in an increase in the average number of eggs laid.
7
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getting slack about his work, and draw- ing on his imagination to supply any deficiency in his returns.
Each nest is visited as far as possible once a day, the keeper not making a pro- longed business of inspecting the nest, but just walking close enough, without stopping, to ascertain that all is well. He carries with him on his rounds a couple of traps for immediate use if any trace of vermin be discovered, a strong knife to cut branches which he may want to stick into the ground round any exposed nest he may find, artificial eggs to replace any he may see fit to lift, and a specially contrived belt in which eggs may be carried and kept warm. All the ground is searched twice, for the old birds nest a week or so earlier than the young ones. If a pair of old birds usurp an un- due extent of territory for their nesting operations, they sometimes have to be cleared out. Each man knows that as soon as the partridge uncovers her eggs he must on no account go near the nest
PRESERVATION 99
for a day or two, as any disturbance at this critical time may make her desert.
All nests in safe places are left alone, except that some of the eggs are changed with other beats, with perhaps a few spare eggs added if the full clutch is much under twenty. Changing of eggs is systematically carried out all over the ground, both with other estates and also by free interchange between beats. Nests on roadsides and exposed places are treated according to the degree of danger to which they seem exposed ; if there appears to be a reasonable chance of their survival, they are dealt with on the Euston system, as described later in this chapter when treating of foxes ; but if their prospects of success are slight, the eggs are taken to the incubator as soon as the clutch is nearly completed, and the nest destroyed in the hopes that the bird may have a second nest of seven or eight eggs in a more favourable situation.
When any misfortune befalls a nest, should the sitting bird forsake or be killed,
100 PARTRIDGES
the eggs are generally found before they are spoilt, and taken to the incubator. All these eggs are either added to eon- temporary nests, or else allowed to hatch in the incubator, and turned down with newly hatched coveys as soon as dry. Late in the season, the family arrange- ments of dilatory partridges are hurried on by the use of the incubator and the dummies, and the fortnight thus saved must often make the whole difference to the chances of the covey.
When the hay is cut, the beat-keeper is always there, working his dog in front of the mowing machine, and doing all he can to save his birds. Without offering rewards for partridge nests — a practice apt to do more harm than good by encourag- ing indiscriminate nest -hunting — great stress is laid on keeping the farmers and farm-hands not only neutral, but actively interested in the shooting. Some of the farm-hands are right good fellows, and are as useful as extra keepers in the summer. The farmers and the keepers
PRESERVATION 101
live on the best of terms ; the keepers can do them many a good turn in the year, and in return the farmers lend us their aid when most required, studying the interests of the game at all times, and most materially forwarding our efforts in a hundred different ways, by looking after their dogs, cutting their hay and corn with regard to the birds in it, and keeping their men from disturbing the fences — all helping to produce that extra fifty brace in October, which they are as proud as any one to see killed off their land.
After the corn is cut, the stubbles and grass fields are * bushed ' with thorns, more as a precautionary measure than for actual prevention, for where the ground is so well watched and the labourers so friendly, poaching is at a discount.
Before September comes each keeper has to furnish some estimate of the number of birds on his ground, from which data the amount of shooting can be anticipated. In a good year ten days' driving can fairly be reckoned on in
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October, and another five days later in the season. Six thousand birds off the 8000 acres is not an undue estimate on first-class ground, and a pair of birds to every 4 or 5 acres is about the stock that the ground will comfortably carry, seeing that the partridges have it all their own way, the merest sprinkling of pheasants being allowed to nest outside the home covers.
But all estates are not equally blessed, and we must now consider some of the problems which present themselves very forcibly in the ordinary course of pre- servation. Perhaps the commonest of these is provided by the rival sport of hunting. The presence of foxes on an estate vastly complicates the question of partridge preservation. The fox, deadliest foe to game, must not only be tolerated but encouraged, and though it has been proved beyond all doubt that both foxes and partridges can exist on the same ground in sufficient numbers for the purpose of sport, still the life of a keeper
PRESERVATION 103
in a strictly preserved hunting country is not altogether a happy one ; his cares and anxieties are very sensibly increased, and the uncertainty of reaping any fruit of his labours, one of the most trying features of a keeper's work at any time, is now doubled by the ever-present snake which he must cherish in his bosom.
Of course it may be said that the keeper's duty is to carry out his master's wishes, and that he should be as pleased when foxes are found in plenty as he was the year when mange had decimated their numbers, and two hundred brace figured in the game-book as the product of a single day for the first, and probably the last, time. Such a nice sense of propor- tion is, however, denied to human nature, and for the most part you will find the keeper either very much in earnest about his partridges, in which case the foxes remain a permanent thorn in the flesh, or else keen about hunting, the partridges then taking a second place in his estima- tion and suffering accordingly.
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It is by no means every fox who takes to hunting for partridge nests, but once indulged in, the habit soon becomes con- firmed and ineradicable in the individual. The worst offenders are mangy foxes, who alone hunt by day as well as night, and old vixens seeking food for their cubs. It is always advisable to keep a plentiful supply of rabbits for the foxes, unless the interests of forestry have to be considered. Rabbits are the staple food of the fox, and where they are to be had for the catching, the foxes may refrain from trying any novelties in the way of food.
Many and various are the devices employed to save the nests. The simplest way is to surround the nest with a smell which foxes dislike, such as handfuls of grass dipped hi * animal oil,' rags soaked in a mixture of oil of burnt hartshorn and creosote or gas tar, or one of many patent * stinks ' now sold for the purpose. These may serve their turn well enough for a time, but the fox is full of guile, learns to associate certain evil smells with
PRESERVATION 105
a dinner of two courses, and the keeper is hoist with his own petard. A further refinement is to lay a trail of the par- ticular 'stink' used along the fence, passing wide of the nest by describing a semicircle round it; the fox may then follow the trail and miss the nest.
Wire of a mesh large enough to allow free passage to the bird but none to the fox is sometimes put up a yard or so from the nest on either side of the fence, and well fastened down into the hedge bottom. This may at times effect its immediate purpose, but is very liable to disturb the sitting bird, and further advertises the exact position of the nest to all and sundry, which is obviously undesirable.
Mr. Allington quotes^ a keeper who im{)roved on this device by placing a white flag on each side of the fence opposite to and about a yard from the nest, or farther off at first if the sitting bird showed any signs of uneasiness, and gradually brought nearer as she got used
^ In Partridge Driving, edition of 1910.
106 PARTRIDGES
to it. This plan was said to have been a complete success for four years, the fox not venturing to pass between the flag and the fence, and thus missing the nest. Still, with partridge eggs at £5 a hundred, many keepers would deem it an over- risky expedient to flag their nests like so many putting greens on a golf course, and as easily located.
Old and unset iron traps scattered round the nest are a common device, or an old chain laid all round the nest, which latter is said to form a magic circle through which no fox will ever pass: both these should be well handled at frequent intervals. Stable lanterns sus- pended a foot or so above the ground, with cheap roasting-jacks attached to them, have also been recommended as efficient protection during the night.
All these devices can be profitably employed on occasion, but it is very doubtful if any one of them could per- manently be trusted to protect nests. The keeper who would outwit his wily
PRESERVATION 107
adversaries must not only ring the changes on every known device, but also for ever be devising new methods of baffling the enemy.
All nesting ground that admits of it should be enclosed by six feet of well and strongly set wire-netting, supported by a strong steel wire run through it at half its height. One authority^ gives an in- genious and economical method of making this absolutely fox-proof. A single strand of stout wire is stretched from standard to standard above the wire- netting (the standards, if of wood, must be provided with an iron eyelet stanchion for the pur- pose). Suspended on this wire by means of bent wire cross-pieces are lengths of ridg- ing, an inexpensive material of galvanized sheet-iron. The ridging has free play, working on the single wire, and any fox trying to jump on to the top of the netting fails to gain foothold and falls backwards.
While all these palliative measures are effective at times, it seems that in the
1 Mr. W. Carnegie, in Practical Game Preserving.
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adoption of the so-called *Euston' system is to be found the only reliable remedy for the trouble caused by foxes. Marlow, head-keeper to Lord Ashburton at the Grange, rendered a great service to pre- servers of game in hunting countries when he discovered the fact that once a partridge hen has been sitting on her eggs for twenty-four hours, she may be handled and lifted or gently put off her nest with- out any fear of her forsaking altogether. This made it possible for the keepers to abstract, replace, or substitute eggs at will during practically the whole period of incubation, and, having got so far, systematic use of this idea soon followed as a matter of course.
Mr. Pearson Gregory was the first to practise the system, and has shown on his estate of Harlaxton in Lincolnshire, lying in the very heart of the Belvoir country, how by its means the damage caused by foxes may be minimized. The system should really be known as the * Harlax- ton,' but as Mr. Pearson Gregory was
PRESERVATION 109
tenant of the Duke of Grafton's shootings at Euston, and as the keepers there added chipped eggs to their wild pheasants' nests at the time of hatching, there arose some little confusion on the subject, and Mr. Gregory's invention became generally known as the * Euston' system.
Its objects are twofold. In the first case, it seeks to protect the eggs by keep- ing them from all danger from the first week of laying to the hour of hatching ; secondly, it aims at lessening the danger to the sitting bird and her nest by shorten- ing the period of incubation from three weeks to one.
In brief, its methods are these : all nests possible are found and each bird is allowed to lay four eggs without interfer- ence ; these, and all subsequent eggs as she lays them, are then taken by the keepers and either put into the incubator or set under hens, being at the same time replaced in the nest by artificial eggs.^
^ The original artificial eggs were found very unsatis- factory, and birds often refused to have anything to do
110 PARTRIDGES
The partridge is allowed to sit for one week on the dummies, after which time she is willing to mother any chicks that may hatch. A batch of chipped eggs are then taken from the coops or the in- cubator, carried to the nest in a basket of warm bran, and substituted for the dummies. In a few hours the mother will have hatched and taken off the brood, thus evading all the dangers of the last two days of incubation, which, as is well known, is just the time that foxes do most mischief. For then the scent, which the sitting bird has been able to suppress since incubation commenced, returns to the nest (due perhaps to the chicks in the eggs), rendering it an easy prey to any passing * varmint.'
Besides the main object of this system, its adoption is attended by several minor advantages. A constant change of blood
with them ; but now many excellent imitations of the natural egg are on the market. Mr. Maiden, Home, Horley, supplies an egg which, were it not for the small hole purposely left open at one end, would be almost in- distinguishable from the genuine article.
PRESERVATION 111
all over the ground is assured; the wastage, caused by birds sitting on unfertile eggs, ceases; and the keeper can exactly regulate the hatching time of any nest so that tlie chicks start life under the most propitious circumstances. It might be supposed that the keeper would find himself left with more eggs on hand than he could dispose of, especially should accidents befall many of the hens who are sitting on dummies. But as it has been found quite safe to put as many as thirty eggs in a nest, questions of supply and demand are generally easy to regulate.
The working of this system is inex- pensive, though doubtless it entails hard work on the part of the keepers, which might lead some to oppose its introduc- tion, or demand an increased staff to cope with the work. To any urging such objections, let it be pointed out that in Lincolnshire one man has worked a beat of 1500 acres on the Euston system, with a hatch of 1200 birds in a season.
On dry soils, where no springs or
112 PARTRIDGES
streams afford natural drinking-places for the partridges, it is advisable to give the birds drinking-fountains in dry and hot summers. It is true that they can manage well enough without them, but numerous self-feeding fountains placed in the fields and kept clean and sweet will well repay any extra trouble they may entail, by helping to keep the stock healthy. Mr. F. E. Fryer, whose management of a small estate at Newmarket entitles him to speak with the voice of authority — does not his land produce l^ birds to the acre ? — considers this a sure precaution against gapes, which scourge may well, as he suggests, come from birds drinking in the nearest dirty puddle after a shower, and thus absorbing the embryo gape- worm.
Remises, or sanctuaries provided for shelter, food, and nesting, are scarcely germane to the subject of preservation in general, for they are a luxury which only the very few, to whom money is no object, can well afford. A description of
PRESERVATION 118
one will be found among the notes from Welbeck Abbey in Chapter V.
With ordinary care and attention the hand-rearing of partridge^ presents no peculiar difficulty, and demands only the ordinary appliances of pheasant-rearing. On principle, absolute certainty as to the source of supply in buying eggs should be insisted on ; in practice, it is to be feared that this precaution is sometimes neglected, else were egg-stealing not so profitable a pursuit.^
The treatment up to hatching time differs in no respect from pheasant-rear- ing, save only that it is advisable to set the eggs under a smaller type of hen than usual. Bantams and silkies, when they can be induced to sit, which is not
^ To ensure an honest source in buying eggs, every one should be most particular in this country to deal only with Associates of the Field Sports and Game Guild, of which the Duke of Leeds is president, the Duke of Abercorn vice-president, and which numbers all respectable dealers in eggs among its associates. When buying eggs direct from Austria-Hungary it is well to communicate with the society of the same name in Vienna. It is said that close on 100,000 stolen partridge eggs annually find their way into this country.
8
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always, make excellent foster-mothers. From 15 to 20 eggs may be given to each hen.
There is always considerable risk of the hen trampling on newly hatched birds when they are still weak and wet. This may be obviated by having an incubator set up under cover close by, and, when the eggs begin to chip, taking all but two from the hen and putting them into the incubator. The hen duly hatches her two and is therefore ready to undertake the charge of a family ; the remainder hatch in the incubator, are kept for a short time in the drying box, and are given back to the hen before they have reached the active and independent stage, which comes almost as soon as they are dry. They then go straight under the hen, and she takes to them, which she will not always do if they have been left too long in the drying box and run off in search of food. This device was originated and very successfully practised by Mr. F. Hawkins, head-keeper at Eynsham Hall.
PRESERVATION 115
The natural food of the chick is the egg of the yellow meadow ant, but this should not be given from the start unless a continued supply be assured, for the young birds quickly acquire a taste for ant's eggs, and are then apt to refuse any other kind of food. Where ant's eggs in sufficient quantity are not avail- able, the partridge meal supplied by any reliable manufacturer of game foods, mixed with custard and green food, will be found to answer the purpose fairly well.
The young chicks require to be fed five times a day for the first week or so, four times a day for the next fortnight, and three times a day thereafter. When the young partridges are half grown and about six weeks old, the coops should be moved to the edge of some oat-field, and placed in dry spots far enough from each other to prevent the various coveys collecting in a pack. After a few days of liberty the young birds will leave their foster-mother altogether, and then require little further attention.
116 PARTRIDGES
In my own opinion, rearing partridges by hand where soil and local conditions are favourable to the wild birds must always — even on a small scale after a succession of bad seasons — be a short- sighted policy, eventually defeating its own ends. For while it certainly pro- duces an increased number of birds for the one year, at the same time a number of birds, unlikely to make good parents in the future and unduly susceptible to disease, are turned out to lower the standard of the whole stock.
It would seem that the same rule applies to partridges as to pheasants — rear once and you are committed to rear always. If the truth of this be allowed, the profitable adoption of hand-rearing for partridges is limited to estates where a cold clay soil, a strict preservation of foxes, or other untoward local circum- stances make it hopeless to look for any number of partridges under natural con- ditions. Here if 1000 eggs be bought every year, and CO to 70 per cent hatched
PRESERVATION 117
and reared, driving days of 150 brace may be had, where, without such adven- titious aid, 20 brace would be about the limit.
Hand-reared birds are almost always found to be deficient in the homing instinct, so strongly developed in the wild partridges. As they also have a marked tendency to gather in packs early in the season, especially if the coveys have been turned out too close together, their utility on a small shooting is always somewhat problematical, and they appear to best advantage when turned out in the centre of a large estate, whence they will have ample scope to wander without crossing the boundary.
So far as the actual shooting is con- cerned, hand -reared partridges differ in no particular from wild birds, flying just as well and giving equally good sport ; yet at the best there clings about them some taint of artificiality to any one who cares at all for our wild game birds and their ways, and is not solely occupied
118 PARTRIDGES
with the desire to let off his gun as often as possible.
The French system is another, and for many reasons preferable, method of arti- ficially increasing a stock, but it is only applicable in natural partridge country, and therefore could not always be sub- stituted for hand-rearing. This system was devised by the Due de Montebello, and was borrowed by us from the Continent, where it has been employed with marked success. Briefly, the pro- cedure is as follows : —
A large enclosure is first planned out ; if 50 brace of birds were to be penned, a square of 75 yards would be enclosed. This pen must have plenty of rough cover, such as partridges affect in a wild state, both inside and out. The site should be dry, sheltered, and little liable to disturbance, quiet being essential to the welfare of the birds. The pen is constructed of wire- netting carried on stout standards 6 feet or more in height, roofed with twine-net of a small mesh, and has all its corners rounded off. The inmates, presumably Hungarians, are turned into this enclosure, cock and hen in equal numbers, about the end of October, with their wings brailed. By January they should be well acclimatized, and
PRESERVATION 119
more or less accustomed to the presence of the keeper who feeds them. During the pairing and nesting time there are two several methods of procedure. In the first the large enclosure has two or more small covered-in pens, each some 5 yards square, permanently attached to it, the doors shutting off the smaller from the larger pen being worked with a line by the man in charge from a hut at the main entrance. As the birds mate, each pair draws away from the rest and seeks the seclusion of one of the smaller pens, the door of which is then closed. The pairs are then taken to the rearing pens, a covered-in circle of some 20 feet in diameter being given to each pair, where they proceed with their family arrangements under surveillance of the keeper. When six days or a week old the coveys are turned out on the ground they are intended to occupy. Moving the coveys is always rather a troublesome business, and it simplifies matters considerably if each rearing pen can be constructed where the home of the covey is to be. On the other hand, it is naturally far easier for the keeper to look after the birds properly when all the rearing pens are in one field ; when this is the case the pens should be at least 20 yards apart.
In the Second method, the rearing pens are attached to the main enclosure, shut in the same manner when occupied by a pair, but used by the birds to nest in and only moved after the young are hatched. The old birds are then caught and
120 PARTRIDGES
put in a small flat basket, the young in a carrying box, and all replaced in their pen on the ground which is to be their home ; here they are allowed their liberty after a day or two, as soon as they seem to have settled down. Under this method a number of birds usually nest in the main enclosure, whence they are allowed to run with their young as soon as hatched. In either case, birds which fail to pair are turned out early in the season in the hope that they may find mates more to their liking in the outside world.
In this semi-domesticated condition the hens sometimes considerably exceed the natural clutch of eggs, many instances of one hen producing between 30 and 40 eggs being recorded ; many eggs are also dropped about in the large en- closure. All eggs should be utilized, nests being made up to 20 or 22, and superfluous eggs used in making up wild birds' nests, or else set under hens. About 18 to 20 chicks are as much as one hen partridge can manage satisfactorily ; and it should be remembered that the eggs of birds imported from Hungary often take longer to hatch than those of the native birds.
On the whole the French system has much to recommend it ; the conditions under which the birds are reared approxi- mate fairly closely to those of nature, and the stock thus produced can be fairly
PRESERVATION 121
trusted to be healthy and prohfic in a wild state ; the safety of the nests is ensured during the whole period of incubation, and the young birds can be to some extent safeguarded in wet and windy weather by turning them down in dry and sheltered spots. From a pen holding 50 brace, at least 500 young birds should be, under skilful management, annually produced and turned down.
On the other side, it must be admitted that there have been many complaints from people who state that the system has been given a fair trial with them and found wanting, or at least uncertain in its results, in some years not more than half of the birds pairing in the pens, and all the rest having to be turned out, probably too late in the season to find mates and breed in a wild state.
But one must judge by results, and the uniform success achieved by many who have followed this system for a number of years would seem to point, in the case of failure, to the fault lying, not with the
122 PARTRIDGES
system itself, but rather in the faulty application thereof. Neglect of such weighty considerations as finding a suit- able site for the pen, providing proper food for the birds, and, most important of all, careful and skilful handling at pairing time, would be quite enough in themselves to account for any want of success with- out condemning the whole system.
In any case the French system is not one to adopt on a small scale, unless experimentally, with a view to extending operations should the results be favourable. The initial expense of securing and enclos- ing the ground is heavy, and the birds require constant attention and supervision; and if only 100 young birds or so are to be produced when all goes well, the results will hardly repay the time and money expended. It is a system best adapted for working on large estates, where each of five or six beat-keepers could have twenty rearing pens set up in suit- able places on his own ground, receiving the paired birds to tenant them from the
PRESERVATION 123
large central enclosures, in which from 100 to 150 brace of birds would be penned. On such a scale the results of success would form a very tangible quantity in the shooting season. The whole idea of penning partridges for laying is un- doubtedly capable of considerable varia- tion at the hands of skilful operators, and it seems quite possible that semi-domesti- cated partridges might even be induced to abandon their monogamous habits.
The introduction of Hungarian part- ridges into this country is a novel feature of game preservation. When first sug- gested some fifteen years ago, the idea was welcomed as the panacea for all ills on partridge ground, but of recent years Hungarians have proved a fruitful source of controversy. Rightly or wrongly they have been blamed for impairing the stamina of our native stock and introduc- ing new forms of disease. * Hungarians' is, of course, a very loose term, and includes grey partridges from every part of Germany and the Austrian Empire. It
124 PARTRIDGES
is no easy matter to pronounce finally whether their introduction is advisable or not ; only, when so many close and accurate observers pronounce against them from personal experience, a feeling of mis- trust is naturally engendered. That their introduction has in many instances been attended with evil consequences is beyond doubt, only the question remains as to how far these failures are attributable to mismanagement and mistakes on the part of those responsible for turning them down.
Hungarians are practically indis- tinguishable from our own partridges, and may be bought either in the egg or as full-grown birds. While eggs involve less initial outlay, they are probably just as expensive in the long-run, and buying the birds direct has the advantage of being the more certain method of the two, besides ensuring a change of blood in the first year.
Particular care and attention are absolutely essential in dealing with
PRESERVATION 125
Hungarians ; if they are bought and turned down in a haphazard fashion, there can be no shadow of doubt that they will be more likely to do harm than good. Their reputed origin should, if possible, be verified, and some similarity between the climate of their old and new homes insisted on. In buying either birds or eggs, the foreign invoice must be checked, else it is quite possible to buy * Hungarian' eggs which come from no more distant land than your own hedgerows.
The old and vicious system, still re- commended by many game dealers, of turning birds out on the night of their arrival should be utterly discountenanced. When the birds arrive they should first be carefully examined to see that they are all in a healthy condition, and that a due proportion of sexes and young birds to old is maintained. They should then be placed in pens, which have been con- structed in suitable spots on the ground which they are intended to occupy. The
126 PARTRIDGES
pens should be 12 ft. long by 4 ft. wide and 3 ft. high, covered with twine-netting of about ^ in. mesh, with fir branches in the centre and some shelters of boards at the sides. Each of these pens will hold about 4 brace comfortably, and should be placed on good dry turf. The birds should for the first day or so be given water, grit, and crushed and scalded grain, and then whole grain and plenty of green food. They should be procured by the end of December, and enlarged at the end of January ; they will then be less likely to stray than if they were turned out before the pairing season began. Owing to the severer changes of climate to which they are subject in their own country, Hungarian partridges are more migratory in habit than our native birds, so this is an important consideration.
It is inadvisable to handicap the new- comers with rings on their legs for purposes of identification ; a small hole punched through the web of the wing serves the purpose equally well, and in
PRESERVATION 127
no way inconveniences the bird. The ground on which Hungarian partridges are to be turned out must be cleared of old birds first, or the foreigners will be driven away as soon as they are set at liberty. When the birds are being freed, the pen should be left open at one end and food scattered close by for a day or two. On no account should any but good healthy birds be released ; every one that shows any signs of being in poor health or condition must be inexorably destroyed.
Hungarians have no peculiar qualities in influencing a stock of partridges ; a change of blood from ten miles away is as efficacious as one from a thousand. Their sole merit as compared with British partridges lies in the fact that they are readily procurable in a wild state from reliable sources. To import Hungarians in times of plenty is rather like taking coals to Newcastle ; it is only after a succession of bad nesting seasons that their use seems in any way desirable.
128 PARTRIDGES
When scarcely a young partridge has reached maturity for two or three years, and the ground is tenanted by nothing but hardy veterans of four and five years' standing, it is a tempting expedient to clear out all the old and useless stock and start afresh with a new lot.
The right course to follow in managing a partridge -shooting seems tlien to be this : first, make sure that your staff is efficient, that tlie wild birds are properly cared for, their enemies reduced to a minimum ; that good and sufficient nest- ing ground is available for the breeding stock, and that the health of the race is ensured by a regular change of blood. When this point has been readied, and not till then, it may be advisable to adopt one of the systems of higher preservation ; but to turn out Hungarians on ground covered with vermin or devoid of places for nesting, or to ask a keeper who has never really studied the habits of his own partridges to undertake the delicate work of successfully pairing penned birds under
A 'riME-iioNOtiJED Custom. Partridge and Pheasant using same Nest.
PRESERVATION 129
the French system, is simply waste of money.
In the present state of agriculture more land passes out of cultivation every year, and farms which once carried a fine head of game soon become useless for purposes of sport when laid down in grass. The fact that the occasional covey met with on grazing land is almost always a peculiarly large and strong one would seem to show that partridges can do well enough on grass if they like, but no in- ducement will persuade them to stay in any appreciable numbers where the land is unbroken.
The only way to keep up a respectable stock under these conditions is to plough a certain proportion of the land — about 10 acres to every 200 acres of grass is sufficient — and grow some cereal crop for the exclusive benefit of the game. Where fields run large, the cost of fencing these patches is a serious consideration, otherwise the whole expense of ploughing, harrowing, sowing, and paying compensa-
130 PARTRIDGES
tion for the land should come to consider- ably less than £l an acre, and the result is almost sure to repay the outlay. Wheat is often recommended for the purpose, but the crop that entails least trouble in cultivation is buckwheat. This cereal is not particular as to soil, and will grow almost anywhere, provided the ground is not waterlogged. It should be sown any time during June, about one bushel of seed to the acre. The ground should be lightly ploughed, thoroughly harrowed, and rolled after being sown. The seed may be obtained from any nurseryman, the grey or silver hulled varieties being the best. The grain matures in from six weeks to two months according to season. It is not a bad plan to sow a few strips of Hungarian millet in the same field ; this makes good cover, which buckwheat does not, and gives birds a place of retreat when disturbed. Hungarian millet may be sown at the same time as buckwheat, under the same process of cultivation, but using only half a bushel of seed to the
PRESERVATION 131
acre. Buckwheat may be grown for two or three years in succession on the same ground without impoverishing the soil, and is an effectual agent in cleaning dirty land.
CHAPTER V
BY MANY HANDS
A series of notes from many estates — Summarizing present- day methods under varying conditions — With results, opinions, and suggestions.
As it is only some thirty or forty years since the idea of doing something towards improving partridge ground was first seriously considered, it could hardly be expected that the rules of modern pre- servation should be capable of being concisely and finally laid down in a few pages.
The new system probably originated at Elvedon, where, as long ago as 1870, Lord Ducie's keepers were successfully rearing large numbers of partridges by hand, exchanging pheasant's eggs for those of partridges with their neighbours.
132
I
BY MANY HANDS 133
Except on this one estate in Oxfordshire, it was then the universal custom to allow partridges to fend entirely for themselves ; the more prominent vermin were, it is true, probably destroyed, but beyond that, no interest was taken in the movements of the birds until the 1st of September drew near, and it became a question what sport they could be called upon to furnish.
Partridge - driving, demanding more birds on the ground and more certainty of their being there when wanted than the older methods which it supplanted, resulted in the trial of every conceivable means of assisting nature. These methods of driving and preservation — the two are almost inseparably connected — have in some countries been almost reduced to a complete system, but in many others, where driving is still more or less a novel introduction, the whole system has not yet emerged from a rude and barbaric infancy. At the best, modern methods are still largely experimental in their
134 PARTRIDGES
nature, and rules which have proved suc- cessful in one part of the country are by no means necessarily adapted for universal application. In such a case the opinions of many, based on a variety of experience, must far outweigh the humbler judgment of one who has only the limits of his own narrower experience from which to draw his conclusions.
Any writer on partridge preservation cannot fail to be largely influenced by his own experiences at the game ; he is apt to argue from the particular to the general, and formulate for the guidance of others, working under vastly different conditions, a system which he has found successful in his own little corner of the partridge world.
The following series of notes from close on twenty different estates, ranging from the south of England to the north of Scotland, will, it is hoped, form a sum- mary, more or less complete, of the various methods of to-day ; at least it was with this end in view that they were
BY MANY HANDS 135
collected, the idea being that any one desiring information about partridge pre- servation should first study the notes as a whole and get a good broad impression of the business, and then select an estate where the general conditions are some- what similar to his own, and note how others deal with the same problems which he himself is called upon to face. The notes from each estate are answers to a uniform series of questions, and are in every case the opinions of owners or gamekeepers actively engaged in partridge preservation.
The points on which information was requested were as follows: — Extent of ground, nature of soil, proportion of cul- tivated land to grass, rotation of crops. Nature of natural nesting ground, and whether any artificially provided. The question of foxes. The relative de- merits of other vermin. The desirability of hares, pheasants, and French partridges on partridge ground. The system fol- lowed in the nesting season. The question
136 PARTRIDGES
of hand -rearing partridges, or using incubator or hens. The manner in which change of blood is obtained. Any diseases and their probable causes. The size of beat given to one man. •The question of feeding wild partridges. The latest date on which partridges should be shot, and the desirable size of stock to leave. The question of replen- ishing stock after a succession of bad seasons. Results past and present — stock generally increasing or the reverse ; acres to each bird killed on the best beat and all over the ground.
GORDONSTOUN, ELGIN
(From notes by Mr. Robert Bell, head-keeper to Sir William Gordon-Cumming, Bart.)
Extent of ground about 7000 acres, mostly under cul- tivation on a five years' course — corn, turnips, corn, two years grass. Fortunately for partridges, the soil of Morayshire must he cultivated, as it is too light to lay down in grass. About half the ground has a light sandy soil, the rest heavier land and clay.
On the liglit soil, which is naturally the principal partridge ground, there is a scarcity of natural nesting ground ; this is remedied to some extent ])y fencing off
BY MANY HANDS 137
and planting odd corners, which make good cover and nesting ground for the birds. These plantations become useless when the trees grow up, unless they are kept well pruned down and thinned out.
As many of the wild nests as possible are found before the birds begin to brood ; it is not considered safe to look among cover afterwards. Nests are visited in the early morning three times a week. Fifteen is the average number of eggs laid, but nests are often, and successfully, made up to 25 eggs. Eggs are constantly changed from one part of the estate to another.
The ' French system ' has been employed here for some six years ; it has proved successful from the start, has never given any trouble, and is considered the best way to keep up a good stock of partridges. Thirty brace of Hungarians are bought each year in November for the pens, and the average number of young birds over a period of years is 360 ; in some years the broods have averaged as high as 19. Owing to wet and cold in June the wild birds suffered the last two seasons, but under this system the breeding stock has been kept as good as ever. Eggs from nests in hay-fields, roadsides, and dangerous places are saved and utilized with the nests in the pens.
There are no foxes ; rooks are found the worst enemies, followed in degree by rats and weasels ; hedgehogs are very destructive. Owls and kestrels are plentiful all along the coast, but do no harm and are not killed. French partridges are unknown ; hares and pheasants are not found harmful on partridge ground.
Partridges are regularly fed through winter on the refuse from thrashing mills, which is full of small seeds, of which the birds are particularly fond. These feeds are put on waste pieces of ground or in young plantations which birds frequent, and the partridges come there almost every day.
No disease has been noticed. Each beat-keeper has from 1500 to 1600 acres to look after.
138 PARTRIDGES
Partridge shooting should begin September 21st and end on December 31st. Exclusive of the birds in the pens, a brace for every 17 to 20 acres is thought a fair stock over the whole estate ; a brace for every 10 or 12 acres is considered an average bag, and a brace for every 6 acres in very good seasons. The stock generally is always well kept up, and is, if anything, increasing.
Before the French system was started, the average for five years was 450 brace, all shooting being then walking in line. For the last five years, despite bad seasons and the ground being lightly shot, the average is just under 600 brace, all shot by driving.
PRESTON HALL, NEAR EDINBURGH (Notes by Lord Elphinstone.)
Extent of ground 4019 acres, of which 1825 acres are cultivated (1195 acres in grain crop, 630 acres turnips), and 2194 acres are pasture. The soil is on the heavy side, with some clay.
To improve the natural nesting ground, double hedges are made in places, and any natural rough hollow or bank wired to keep out dogs. Every keeper has a chart of his beat and marks down all the nests he can find. Nests are visited once a day, generally between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., occasionally about 4 p.m.
Average number of eggs per nest : on first beat, 15 ; second beat, 14 ; third beat, 14 ; fourth beat, 14. Some birds lay as many as 17. Some eggs are lifted and put in other nests. Personally I would rather change eggs tlian put down Hungarians. I once put down 100 brace of Hun- garians, and think they did good, but only by keeping them six weeks or so in pheasantries, and getting them strong and liealthy, and less wild. In my opinion, im- porters of Hungarians are wrong in advising buyers to turn them out the same night they arrive.
BY MANY HANDS 139
There are practically no foxes ; rooks are undoubtedly the worst enemies here.
There are no French partridges. My personal opinion is that partridges always do better where there is no big quantity of hares or pheasants. Partridges are fed in hard weather.
In this country partridges are, I think, singularly healthy as a rule, a bad year being always directly trace- able to a cold and wet season, or other adverse climatic conditions when hatching or soon after. Occasionally we have severe mortality from gapes.
Each man has 1000 acres to look after.
Personally, I do not like to shoot partridges after the end of December. I believe that, even in bad years, partridges should be driven and shot lightly.
Our stock is certainly not diminishing ; in fact, I think it is increasing all over the Lothians. In our best year, 1906, we killed 513, 303, 892 birds— 604 brace in 2^ days. The third day we were stopped first drive after lunch by a thick fog, or would have easily killed 300 brace.
CHARTERHALL, BERWICKSHIRE (Notes by Colonel A. Trotter.)
6000 acres ; loam soil ; two-thirds cultivated on a five- year shift.
The natural nesting ground is improved by fencing strips of land along the hedges (no nests in these first season, last year several). Artificial nesting places made in most hedges and alongside walls, by laying down thorn branches, etc., answer their purpose.
Wire-netting erected to keep sheep and stock from grazing into the fence, thereby retaining the summer roughness.
All nests possible to find are noted. Nests are visited
140 PARTRIDGES
regularly as often as possible, in the height of the nesting season thrice a week. The average number is about 16 eggs to the nest. Eggs are lifted from insecure or for- saken nests and added to others.
Eggs are put into the incubator or under bantams when the bird deserts while sitting ; these eggs, when hatched, are taken from the incubator or bantam and added to other broods which are known to be hatching off.
The following is one of many examples : A bird sitting on her nest was found dead and cold near the nest ; she should have hatched oft" the following day. The eggs were put into the incubator, 17 came out and were put down with a brood that hatched off the same day.
No partridges are hand-reared. Eggs are changed to a certain extent from different parts of the estate.
In 1906, 100 brace of Hungarians were turned out, and in 1907, 20 brace. In 1908, 1909, and 1910, 500, 300, and 200 Hungarian eggs respectively were purchased through the Egg Guild Association, and distributed among nests.
There are foxes, but they have not given trouble to any extent latterly, owing to mange having killed a great many. Several devices have been tried to frustrate the foxes, such as : —
(a) Wire entanglement, made of thin wire about 2 feet high, placed round the nest and some distance from it. Result, wires broken and bird killed by fox.
(6) Placing old iron and sprung traps round the nest. Result, so far as known, to a certain extent successful.
(c) Reynardine on all nests on roadsides, sprinkled round the nest and along the hedge on either side ; by this means we think that dogs, etc., coming along the road get the scent and follow the trail, which, leading at some distance round the nest, leaves it undisturbed. On one occasion we sprinkled reynardine on a sitting pheasant, and within two days she was taken by a fox. Wc have also tried liquid carbolic instead of reynardine.
(d) Luminous paint on iron pins, such as are used in
BY MANY HANDS 141
the garden for naming plants ; placed at a distance from the nest.
Our vermin in order of precedence at nesting time are rooks, rats, hedgehogs, stoats, cats, and moles. The cats frequent the roads, hut their presence is easily detected by their footprints, and steps taken accordingly. Moles have given a certain amount of trouble by working under the nests and letting the eggs down. To remedy this, insert rags soaked in carbolic or reynardine in the runs and remake the nest.
Owls are numerous, and kestrels fairly plentiful ;
neither are found to do any harm, and both are preserved.
Hares are not found harmful : close on a hundred have
been killed in one day's partridge-driving. Pheasants I
consider harmful and should be kept within limits. They
interfere with partridges by laying in their nests, and
leaving the eggs uncovered, even if they do not altogether
drive away the partridge. We rear no pheasants here now.
Partridges are fed in hard weather.
Enteric in a mild form appeared in 1909, and again in
July and August 1910. Gapes has been bad, and reduced
the size of the coveys considerably before the shooting
season.
The beat-keepers have each 1500 acres to look after. No partridges are shot after the first week in November.
We leave as large a stock as possible, and have not experienced a bad season since we commenced preserving. The -twenty-eight years from 1877 to 1904 give an average of 305 brace annually. In 1905 driving com- menced, and the average of the last six years is 430 brace. No pheasants have been reared since 1906, and the last three seasons average 675 brace for about nine days' shooting. The present year is the best so far recorded, 2060 partridges having been killed, being one bird to 3 acres on the best beat, and one bird to 4 acres all over the ground.
142 PARTRIDGES
BLACKADDER, BERWICKSHIRE
(Notes by Sir George Houstoun Boswall, Bart.)
5000 acres, of a clay soil, with three-fifths cultivated on a four years' course, and two-fifths grass. A large number of double fences make excellent nesting ground, but, unfortunately, the partridges always seem to prefer the roadsides. I put this down entirely to their liking for dust and grit, and am trying to obviate this by making places in the double hedges where they can take their dust baths.
I have all nests found as far as possible, and consider that they should be visited once a day when the bird is sitting ; there is then some chance of saving the eggs if anything has happened. Our nests average about 17 eggs. A lot of eggs are lifted from impossible places and put into other nests. Eggs are also changed from one side of the place to another. The incubator is not used. Some partridges were reared under the French system, which was most successful, but as we only had ten pens, it was not worth the trouble, as even if all ten coveys were reared, the man that looked after them would be, in my opinion, far better employed outside. I put in a lot of Hungarian eggs in 1909 and 1910, but shall not do so this year.
W^e always have some foxes, and they take a certain number of birds off their nests. We remove the eggs to other nests. Hedgehogs, rats, and rooks are certainly our worst vermin ; owls and kestrels I do not consider harmful to partridges. Hedgehogs I consider the worst egg-stealers of all, as they will go all up a fence and never miss a nest. We have many hares, but do not find they do any harm. Pheasants would do mischief by laying in partridge nests, were the nests not visited and their eggs removed.
BY MANY HANDS 143
In 1909 and 1910, though our best years, a number of birds died from gapes and from some other disease, which I presume to have been a form of enteritis. I put this down to the evil influence of the Hungarian eggs, and possibly to the now prevalent practice of putting chickens on the stubbles. We feed our partridges with hay-seed when there is deep snow.
Our beats are roughly 1000 acres each. In an open season I never shoot any partridges after 31st December, as so many have already paired, and these are just the ones which would get shot.
I regret to say that I do not yet know what would be too large a stock to leave on the ground. For the last four years the stock and the bags have been steadily increasing, which is entirely due to (1) driving only, (2) killing vermin, (3) finding and looking after the nests. 1910 was our best year, when we killed 800 brace. We could have shot many more, but only had four days' shooting with six guns, and a few odd days, and I now think that there is as big a stock on the ground as it will carry. We have now had three very good seasons running.
LOGAN, MULL OF GALLOWAY
(Notes by Mr. M^ Vicar, head-keeper to Kenneth M'Douall, Esq.)
The Logan shootings are some 15,000 acres in extent, the soil for the most part of a light loam, sandy in some parts, and with occasional stretches of clay. Tillage and permanent grass are about equal in area, the land being worked on a six years' system of rotation — corn, turnips, corn, and three years in grass.
On part of the ground the natural nesting ground is good, mostly in the form of rough patches of whin and hedgerows, but over a large proportion of the estate bare
144 PARTRIDGES
stone walls take the place of hedges, especially on the west and most exposed side to prevailing winds. Such ground is improved by putting down small patches of artificial cover close to the walls in likely nesting places.
A keeper who does his duty should know (as nearly as possible) all the game nests on his beat, and should visit each twice a week, in the afternoon, at which time he is least liable to cause disturbance to the birds while laying, though when incubation begins any time will suit. Nests on public roadsides and other dangerously exposed places should be taken up and distributed among other nests.
We do not hand-rear partridges here in a general way. One season, however, we purchased 800 eggs from Southern Germany and reared about 160. I used bantams as fosters, and when the chicks were a fortnight old they were allowed to roam in fine weather with their several fosters during the day, and herded back to their coops in the evening. The young stock did remarkably well on this system, but of course it requires considerable attention. T have also reared successfully by turning down the birds, fosters and all, into oats or other grain when three weeks old, continuing the feeding along the headland for a time after their removal. Light soil is important on the rear- ing field, and a couple of furrows ploughed up about every 20 yards give shelter in wet weather, also grit and basking ground, all of them important considerations.
I have tried Hungarians for change of blood, and must admit that there were decided traces of improvement on the beats where they were turned down : several were shot the next season out of large broods on the same ground, and with the marking rings still on their legs. Still there is no reason, evident to me, why British eggs or live birds from a distance should not be as efficacious in improving degenerated stock.
While on the subject of inbreeding, I may mention that I once reared large numbers of Pit Games (fighters) for six successive years with the best results. Yet these birds
" Ware Chase."
BY MANY HANDS 145
had been inbred for 40 years without a single off cross. Their courage in the pit was perfect, they were very fast, and absolutely dead game. I never met with a single runner in this strain, and I witnessed (this in a whisper) many great mains against them in the United States.
This seems to prove the extent to which inbreeding can be carried without any apparent deterioration. On the contrary, this strain was improved, or rather maintained its qualities by inbreeding, for when crossed with other dead game strains there was always a certain percentage of runners.
It appears to me that the same law must apply to certain game birds, especially those which do not spread over a wide area, but cling to the spot where they were born. Nature must have her own protective methods against the extinction of species, which must of a necessity breed and interbreed for ages.
There hre no foxes ; the climate is our worst enemy here, heavy rainstorms in July generally destroying large numbers of partridges. The common rook I find a good second, but as they only take eggs, much can be done to protect exposed nests, by putting pieces of brushwood round the nest, but only after incubation has started.
I have not found the owls hurtful to game, though I have heard from reliable sources that they are more or less destructive in some localities. Kestrels generally I consider harmless, I have known occasional attacks and an odd chick taken at the coops, but the gun usually ended the matter in a day or two.
1 have visited scores of kestrels' nests, and only very rarely found the remains of young- game.
In over forty years' experience in game-keeping in many parts I have never been able to prove that the hedgehog takes eggs, but I am open to conviction on this matter. In a general way I do not consider eitlier pheasants or hares harmful to partridges, though where pheasants are
10
146 PARTRIDGES
extensively raised, special attention is necessary to pre- vent their free usurpation of partridge territory.
We only feed our birds during heavy snows, and the occasion has only arisen twice in the last twelve years.
The only bad disease we suffer from here is brought on by bad weather. The symptoms were very similar to those of enteritis, and autopsy showed that the birds had eaten certain grass seeds, usually found in very wet seasons, and inducing a form of enteritis. This disease swept off a great number of young birds, mostly when fully half- grown. I caught many of them which, though unable to fly, were otherwise in fair condition. The action of this trouble was slow, as birds I caught and marked showed little change when caught again some days later.
Though I have no proof that either dips or artificial manures are injurious to game, I have a strong suspicion that certain brands are responsible for the high death-rate prevailing in some parts of England.
One of the Logan men has a beat of 8000 acres, another one of 2000, the remaining beats being about 1000 acres each, which latter figure I consider quite suflScient for a good man to look after in good partridge country containing many villages.
Our regular shooting ends in December, giving the keeper a month in which to decide how his stock stands, and whether or not another short day can be had without undue reduction of his breeding stock. The desirable breeding stock varies largely on different ground ; on grass-lands the birds will not increase beyond a certain figure. Generally, where all conditions are favourable, I would estimate that a brace of birds to every 3 acres is the maximum breeding stock to leave on the ground by January 1st. Our stock here decreased greatly in recent years, owing to a succession of wet seasons. In 1910 there was a marked improvement, and now we have a capital stock of healthy birds.
BY MANY HANDS 147
WELBECK ABBEY, NOTTS (Notes by Captain H. Heathcoat Amory.)
Our extent of partridge ground altogether is about 12,000 acres. Of course a lot of this is liardly sliot over, and carries a very small stock on it. It is practically all cultivated. Soil varies very much in different parts of the estate, one side being sandy, the other heavy clay.
Rotation of Crops. — Average four. years' shift, but on heavy land some farmers go five years.
Nesting ground hedgerows chiefly, the only artificial provided being the remises. There are five remises on the whole estate. On the best beat two — one about 11 acres, and one about 4. They consist of ground wired in, wire- netting 8 to 10 feet high, 4 to 5 inch mesh at the bottom, so as to allow the young birds to get through. Inside a belt of shrubs, or spruce and Scotch fir, according to suit- ability of ground, about 15 yards broad. Interior ones to be divided up into four divisions — (1) turnips, (2) barley, (3) first year layer, (4) second year layer. The only advantage for nesting is that the birds are safe from foxes, otherwise they don't use them for nesting any more than outside ; in fact I think we find more nests in the hedges than we do in the remises.
Nesting Season. — All nests should be found if possible and visited once a day. Average number of eggs about 18 to the nest. Eggs are lifted from the outside of the estate and brought into the centre to fill up nests to 20 or 22 eggs, which works well, and often has the advantage of changing the blood to a certain extent. No eggs incubated at all here, and no partridges hand-reared.
We have had very little disease here. Our only trouble has been the wet in June, which has drowned the young birds. On one part of the estate, where there are a lot of flood meadows watered by sewage, we have had a certain amount of dysentery among the old birds. This is
148 PARTRIDGES
probably caused by the sewage bringing up the young grass earlier on these meadows than in other places, and the birds feeding on it.
Hungarians are turned down every year, on an average about 400 l)race of Hungarians for the whole estate. Some we pen for a short period, and some are turned out straight from the baskets through the hedges ; it all •depends on the state in which the birds arrive. If they look well and healthy, they are turned straight out, but if they appear to have suffered from the journey, then they are penned for a few days. As a rule we find the birds healthy and strong, but we always very much prefer our own birds for stock. They are imported straight from the Continent.
We have separate keepers for pheasants and partridges, the same man does not look after both. Our best beat is rather over 1000 acres. On it we have one beat man, and a man and a boy with him, but of course this probably would not be necessary in many counties ; but as we are in the middle of a colliery district, we must have plenty of men to do the watching.
Foxes. — A fair number, but not troubled very much by them, as on the side of the best partridge beat it is not hunted, and therefore any litters found on that part of the estate are moved.
Vermin. — Worst enemies rats and stoats. Owls and kestrels not bad for partridges. Hedgehogs are bad e^^- stealers.
Hares. — Too many are bad on a partridge beat, as they are continually running in the hedgerows and disturbing nests. Pheasants not desirable, as they often lay in partridge nests, and the length of incubation for pheasant and partridge eggs is not the same. French partridges do not do well on cultivated ground, and also do not become sufficiently numerous to do any harm. They do better on rough heavy land. They are good birds for driving.
BY MANY HANDS 149
Partridges ought to be fed in hard weather^ principally with wheat. Partridge-shooting, if possible, should end by the second week of November. Of course, if possible, it is good to leave a brace of birds to the acre for stock, but practically one thinks the ground well stocked if you have a brace to 3 or 4 acres.
There is no doubt that too many old birds on a beat is a very bad thing, and I believe the best thing to do is to kill down your stock of old birds fairly well and re-stock with Hungarians.
Our best day at Welbeck was in 1906, when we killed 739 brace on the Blue Barn beat, some 1000 to 1200 acres in extent, and of a light and sandy soil. That year the total bag for this beat was 1669 partridges. Since then, owing to the wet summers, we have only shot lightly, but there is a good stock on the ground, and with a good breeding season we ought to do as well as ever.
PATSHULL, STAFFORDSHIRE (Notes by the Hon. G. Legge.)
About 4000 acres, of which nearly 1000 is grass or plantations. The rotation of crops is on a four years' course, and barley is grown extensively.
Ninety per cent of the birds nest in the hedgerows ; no artificial nesting places are provided, though scattered young plantations afford good nesting ground.
I certainly believe in finding all nests possible, especially in a fox country. They should be visited frequently until the bird has been sitting for eight or ten days, after which they should be seen every day ; then, if the bird has been put off through any cause, the eggs can often be saved before they get cold. They are then added to nests of birds which have been sitting for same length of time, or, failing them, put in the incubator, and, when hatched, taken out and put to an old bird with young of the same
150 PARTRIDGES
age. This latter course was successfully adopted with three or four nests this year. Eggs laid in unsafe or un- desirable places are always lifted, and nests in good situations made up to 20 or 22 with them.
I believe in changing eggs. Here we change every year with three other estates widely separated, and also between different beats on the estate. This mixes the bloody even if no shooting is done owing to a bad season.
I can see no use in turning down Hungarians unless the stock is very low and you want to make it up to a certain number per acre. We have not enough French partridges or hares to interfere with the grey partridges ; pheasants we only find a nuisance when they lay in partridge nests. We only feed the partridges in very severe winters.
Foxes are the worst enemies to the partridge here ; but it is by no means every fox that interferes with the birds. Judging from my own experience, I should say that nothing will keep a fox away from partridge nests once that individual fox has taken to hunting the hedgerows for nests. Probably the best protection to nests are old unset traps put down near the nest and well handled once or twice every week. After foxes, our worst enemies are rats and stoats, then hedgehogs, and every year we lose two or three nests from moles burrowing underneath and letting the eggs down into the run. Rooks do a certain amount of harm in late or dry seasons, or where nests are exposed. I am convinced that hedgehogs take eggs ; bait a trap with partridge eggs and see what you catch at it. Owls do no harm to nesting birds here, nor have I seen or heard of an owl doing harm to young birds. Individual kestrels may do a certain amount of harm, but not enough to justify their being killed. Though not exactly coming under the head of vermin, fowls on the stubbles are most injurious to partridges.
The only time our birds suffered from disease was in 1908, when several coveys were found dead, old and
BY MANY HANDS 151
young together, when the corn was cut, but all in too advanced a stage of decomposition to admit of a post mortem.
In summer, when a spell of dry weather checks the growth of barley and wheat, the ground becomes covered with a tangled mass of weed locally known as ^ mountain flax.' Before flowering, the buds of the flax are covered with a gummy substance, not unlike that found on the buds of the horse-chestnut. At this time it is most dangerous to game. It was very bad with us in the dry spell of July 1910, and it was noticeable how young birds grew darker in colour in and around the fields where the flax grew thickest.
There was a brood of young pheasants, 13 in number, which flourished in the corner of a barley-field till the beginning of July. They then began to grow darker in colour, and could only fly with great efi'ort when flushed. Some were picked up dead, and were found to have their feathers all stuck together, just as though they had been dipped in treacle. When last seen, only two young birds remained with the hen, and their fate was uncertain. In many other places, where the flax was thick, broods were seen in the same condition, and several young birds picked up dead. Some old hen pheasants looked quite black, but no old birds were known to have died from this cause. Though pheasants only were observed in this condition, partridges on the same ground must doubtless have also suiFered. As soon as the flax flowers the gum disappears, and the surviving birds resume their normal colour.
Each beat-keeper can manage 1500 acres in this country ; foxes give him a lot of extra work.
I would say that a brace to every 6 or 7 acres in this country is a good stock.
In old days when partridges were walked up and shot most days in September, the annual bags were much the same as they are now, when two weeks' driving takes place in the year — one day on each beat.
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Since driviug commenced in 1898, 1 think our stock increased steadily till 1905, since when the weather has been all against us. In 1905, our best year since driving began, we killed 1600 partridges, shooting over each beat once only ; our best day that year was 156 brace. A large stock was left, perhaps too large, but the following three years were the worst on record, and very few birds were killed, with tlie view of keeping up a sufficient stock. This year (1910) we have left a better stock than ever before, excepting perhaps the great year 1905.
STAPLETON, SHROPSHIRE (Notes by R. Ll. Purcell Llewellin, Esq.)
It would be fallacious to take my estate as an example, because I sold nine-tenths of it three years ago, and have only kept about 1000 acres. In days before the steady decrease of partridges began, I have commonly killed from 20 to 25 brace in a short day, shooting alone over setters. If I had, like my neighbours, shot with a large party of six guns or more and a number of beaters, I could have killed 60 or 70 brace or more ; now, even if I tried, I could not get more tban ten or a dozen brace.
This part of the country is ideal partridge land, light, loamy, turnip and barley soil ; half arable, half pasture, plenty of brooks for water, and a dry soil. The nesting is chiefly in the thorn hedges. There is no rough or uncultivated land, as all is well farmed. The worst vermin are foxes, which are highly preserved. Farmers' dogs are a nuisance too ; wherever a man goes, nine times out of ten a sheep-dog (collie) follows, and even when hoeing turnips the dog is there, often occupying himself in the hedges. There are also collieries not more tlian a couple of miles off, and tliere is sometimes not a little poaching. The country is well keepered, the keepers are good, the
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nests are found and watclied. Until this year no Hun- garians have been turned down in this district.
But all these conditions — foxes, collieries, collies — have been the same for years (and I can remember this part for thirty-six years), yet until the last five years we never heard complaints about any steady decrease of the stock. Since of recent years I liave spared my partridges, only shooting a few for the use of the house, 1 can only speak for my neighbours. They also have spared their birds to some extent, but as none of them (following the usual style nowadays) ever use a pointer or a setter, they are bound to go out in a party. Yet even with their way of doing it, their bags have been surprisingly small. On one estate where years ago 100 and 150 brace were easily killed in a day, I have not heard of more than 19 brace being killed with six or seven guns. I did hear of 30 brace being killed there in 1909 on one day, but was told that nearly the whole estate was driven to do that, and seeing that this comprises some 8000 acres, it is easy to calculate how things are.
The estate on the other side is in much the same con- dition. The owner is no dog-man, and drives, and I hear his birds are just as bad, about 19 brace being his best day ; years ago they thought it a poor day when they did not kill 70 brace. From two other neighbouring places comes the same story ; all this, including my own land, which lies in the centre, comprises some 30,000 acres, and I know things are much the same all over the West Mid- lands and A\^ales.
As to the cause of this steady decrease, I formed a theory, which time has only served to strengthen, that the partridges are poisoned (not intentionally) by the farmer through the use of new ^pickles' for grain, spray- ing materials, and artificial land dressings.
I waited while things went from bad to worse, wonder- ing at the apathy of sportsmen, and hoping that some abler pen than mine would take up the subject, but no
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one did, and so I started the correspondence in the Field.
I held a trump card to prove my case in a letter from the editor, saying that arsenic had been found in birds sent to his office for investigation. But that editor died, and his successor closed the correspondence before the matter was settled.
Meantime, while all admit the decrease of partridges, maiiy continue to give the old reasons as the cause. Bad weather in the nesting season, a succession of unfavourable years, overshooting, egg-stealing, poaching, and vermin are all advanced by different people as the true cause. But none of these account in any way for the steady diminution in the stock of partridges between the close of one shooting year and the ensuing nesting season, the old birds getting fewer and fewer before the breeding time, many being picked up dead, and otliers continually seen in a wasting condition and hardly able to fly. Nor would any or all of these reasons serve to account for arsenic found in birds picked up dead and sent for examination.
The cause of all the trouble must be a new one, as the disaster is ; if the trouble is to be stopped, the old reasons advanced to account for it must be abandoned, new ones sought, and preventive measures undertaken.
PICKENHAM, NORFOLK (Notes by G. W. Taylor, Esq.)
Five thousand acres, varying in quality from light land that will pay for cultivation up to the best mixed soils — 200 acres woodland, 600 permanent grass, 4300 acres under the plough.
The banks and hedges are very good natural nesting ground, and there are 150 acres of heath and bracken (permanent sheep pasture). On the big and open fields
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about 40 acres of belts and })room covers for nesting have been planted, which are also found most useful for shelter. The size of beats vary from 700 to 1500 acres.
It is quite impossible to find every nest, and no good purpose can be served by hunting large fields and corn- fields. The nests most likely to be attacked are those on the bank and hedgerows. In a dry season the rooks take several nests in the hay and corn-fields, as eggs get exposed for want of cover. At Pickenham in some years I believe 85% of the nests have been found, but this is unusual, 70% being nearer the average. This last season, which was wet and the growth consequently rank, I can quite believe that 60% to 65% would represent the pro- portion of nests found. The nests as soon as found should, if possible, be visited daily by the beat-keeper, who should thoroughly examine the nest if things do not appear normal ; he should know how each bird is laying to her nest, or if two lay to one nest. We have great trouble with moles that run the fences and disturb the birds on their nests ; I have actually lost eggs in mole runs, though I do not think that the mole eats them. One year I should have lost 30% of the nests on the estate by moles, if they had not been regularly visited.
On a large beat a keeper must get round his nests when he can : I have known 300 nests on one beat at Pickenham (divided into 5 beats), and it takes a man nearly two days to get round the number. There is one time when I consider it fatal for any one, including the beat-keeper, to go near the nest. For three days after the bird has made up her nest, which you can always tell by the eggs being exposed, it is best to keep well away, for, if flushed off during this period, it is a 100 to 1 chance against the bird returning and the eggs are all spoilt.
If at any time a keeper flushes a bird ofi" a nest during the first week of incubation, it is best to put false eggs in the nest and keep the real eggs under a hen till he can find the bird has come back to the nest, and then wait till
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she is off to feed and replace the eggs. The average all round at Pickenham for years has been nearly 16 eggs in a nest, and the hatch 14. The incubator is always useful, but use it sparingly, and always remember in rearing partridges that, given a decent season, you will never bring up as many chicks as the wild bird will herself. If you rear partridges at all, rear under hens ; but I would never recommend rearing on a large scale.
Change eggs — change, change, change. Change every year from one side of the estate to the other, and change a large proportion with a not too near neighbour wherever possible. This changing of eggs is going to be the solution of a lot of our trouble on the driving grounds, where coveys are sometimes never broken up. It involves an immense amount of labour, but is well worth it, and it would be ideal if every partridge on an estate could sit on —
^ eggs from other corner of estate. \ eggs exchanged with neighbours (say 20 miles off). ^ her own eggs. I have the greatest mistrust of Hungarians, and have seen very bad results in my neighbourhood. Not actually being in a hunting country, we are not much troubled by foxes ; occasionally in spring great damage is done by them to paired partridges. Our worst vermin are stoats, rats, and hedgehogs. The big tawny owl is troublesome at times ; other owls should be encouraged, with perhaps the exception of the little owl, a bird we have not got here, but which I understand hunts by night and day, and is very troublesome in the Midlands. Kestrels are harmless, except on a rearing field, where at times they play havoc, especially if they have their nest handy. 1 consider the hedgehog one of the worst enemies of partridge eggs ; he will take them at all times, and will occasionally destroy quite a young bird.
We kill about 1000 hares every year, and have never found them harmful on the partridge ground. Where
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a large stock of partridges is required^ the out or wild pheasants must be kept in bounds as regards numl)ers. The bulk of the hens left will cling to the woods and feed on the rides and not go far afield to nest. On our 5000 acres 1 consider 200 out hens the maximum that should be left. The ground will only carry a certain head of winged game, and if the wild pheasants are suc- cessful in bringing up their broods^ it will be at the expense of the partridges, where these are numerous. The ideal partridge ground would be denuded of pheasants ; here I always leave a small stock of pheasants all over the estate, as driving in October (we never shoot till then) they give splendid shots out of turnip-fields, espe- cially in a wind. Pheasants are always more harmful to partridges on those estates where their first lots of eggs are collected for the estate rearing fields, as they then nest later and farther afield from the main woods, and often disturb, and indeed appropriate, the nests of part- ridges that are laying and sometimes sitting. When there is deep snow on the ground, we run a plough along the sunny side of a fence and feed the partridges with barley or wheat.
With regard to disease, gapes is the chief trouble always ; enteric we have also at times ; both are very diflficult to combat, and are generally the result of un- seasonable weather. On my own farm (1300 acres) I use no artificial manure to speak of, and yet I am no better off as regards disease than my neighbours.
Our beats vary in size from 700 to 1500 acres, the difference depending on the character of ground and nesting space, the quantity of stock left, and whether near a preserved area or the reverse. The right time to stop shooting depends on the season, but I never care about shooting partridges in January if the weather is open. I think the maximum stock, under the most favour- able conditions, that can be usefully left is a brace to every 4 or 5 acres. I have left this amount and had over
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10,000 birds hatch out, but wet seasons never gave me the chance of seeing- if the ground could carry this number.
I think the ground should be shot over once, however bad the year. If things are desperate, I go out on Sep- tember 1st and walk up the coveys, killing the okl birds and sparing all the young. I have left a good stock every year, but owing to bad seasons this is getting old and weak. The stock generally is decreasing for the same reason.
In 1905 we killed 4123 partridges in eight days oif 5000 acres, and in the same year 1350 partridges in two days off 800 acres.
WITCHINGHAM HALL, NORWICH (Notes by W. Barry, Esq.)
The extent of partridge ground on which my observa- tions are based consists roughly of about 4000 acres. The soil is mostly a light, sandy loam, none of it very heavy ground. It is nearly all cultivated land, with a few strips of old pasture intersecting it. The rotation of crops is on the four years' system — wheat, roots, barley, hay.
We have plenty of hedgerows for nesting. I have also made a good many belts for birds to nest in, consisting of furze, birch, broom, and hazel. These have to be kept low and thin, otherwise partridges will not nest in them. I generally throw up a bank with a thorn hedge on top of it on each side of the belt, for shelter and dusting purposes. I believe in finding every nest ; the keepers visit them every two days. I attach the greatest importance to this ; in no other way can the nests be properly preserved. If a nest is destroyed, traps are at once set and the vermin caught before it can do more damage. If the nests were not watched, a stoat would clear off nest after nest within a very short time. Another
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advantage of finding' all the nests possible is that by the end of June you can estimate the number of your breed- ing stock. I lift very few eggs, practically only those in very dangerous positions or deserted. These I place in nests round corn-fields and make them up to 21.
I believe in changing the eggs as much as possible, and especially in getting eggs from a distance and from bad, heavy partridge grounds. Personally I am not in favour of turning down Hungarians, and have never done so.
We suffer severe losses among our young birds from the machines in the hay harvest. Here every fourth field is a hay-field, and cut, as a rule, during the last ten days of June. If the season is a late one, as generally happens, most of the young birds are only a few days old and prac- tically unable to get out of the way. The result is that enormous numbers are killed in spite of every precaution. I get my farmers to leave the last acre, and the keepers cut it with scythes early the next morning ; but if the night is wet or cold, and the old birds have not come back, many of the little ones die. It is very necessary to have keepers in the fields whilst they are being cut. Of course, if the farmers could be persuaded to begin cutting in the middle of the field and work outwards, all would be well, as the old birds would gradually lead the young ones to the outsides ; but I have been quite unable to persuade my farmers to do this. Numbers of old as well as young birds get killed or mutilated during the hay-cutting, and altogether I lose hundreds of birds during this fortnight. The young ones that escape also receive a check in being deprived of their food in the grass-fields. There is, in my opinion, far more food there than in the corn.
Of course in an early season — and, in my experience, all the good years are early ones — the birds, or a good proportion of them, are a fortnight older and can fly or run away from the machines. In that last very bad season all the young birds that survived here were the early
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ones, which had sufficient stamina to resist the rain and cold winds which set in at the end of June.
We also suffer from the increasing custom of putting poultry down on the stubbles, a custom which deprives the partridges of food and quiet, and is undoubtedly shockingly bad for preservation.
There are no foxes. Rats, stoats and cats are my worst enemies. Owls and kestrels do me no harm. Hedgehogs are harmful ; they destroy partridge eggs, especially just before the eggs are ready to hatch. I know of a score of cases when hedgehogs have eaten the eggs and have been found fast asleep in the nests.
I do not consider French partridges at all harmful to Englisli partridges. Here they live together very amic- ably, and I have seen a French and an English bird sitting on their nests within a yard of each other. I encourage Frenchmen as much as possible. Hares, within modera- tion, do no harm. Pheasants need to be carefully watched on a partridge beat in nesting time. They worry the partridges by driving them off and laying their eggs in the nests. The pheasant eggs must be removed and the pheasant frightened as much as possible to prevent her going back to the nest to lay. My keepers try to find the pheasant on the nest and flush her off with much noise ; occasionally they catch her and carry her a few hundred yards away before letting her go. With the exception of being a nuisance in the nesting season I do not think that a moderate stock of pheasants does any liarm on a partridge beat. If my sole object, however, was to have a large stock of partridges, I would do away with pheasants altogether on that particular ground.
In hard weather, severe frosts, and prolonged snow, I feed the birds by the hedgerows, in the larger fields, or in any pits, plantations, etc., to which they are in the habit of resorting.
With the exception of gapes, I am not troubled with any special form of disease, but after every wet season I
BY MANY HANDS IGl
lose a certain number of hen birds. I imagine they get chilled and poor from continual sitting in wet weather, and then contract lung diseases. My own opinion, such as it is, is that the artificial forms of manure are not harm- ful. A friend of mine, who has one of the best partridge manors in Norfolk, keeps in his own hands 1000 acres of land on which no artificial manures have been used for the last three or four years. The birds, however, on this land have done no better than on the adjoining ground, where artificial manures are used.
Size of Beat. — A good deal depends on the lie of the ground, whether it is a straggling beat intersected by villages, etc. If the beat is compact, and in one block, I consider that a really good keen keeper can look after 1500 acres.
My stock was biggest in 1905. We have had no good year in Norfolk since, although 1908 was fair. The last two years have been unusually bad, and in consequence the stock of young birds is small. In 1905 I only had 3200 acres of shooting, and on this 2400 birds were killed and a very large stock left. This acreage included 130 acres of wood and a 300-acre farm, which was rented for the first time, and was not seriously driven or shot over.
WEETING HALL, BRANDON, NORFOLK (Notes by C. Cockburn, Esq.)
Soil and Cultivation. — Extent of ground 8000 acres, only 300 acres grass, the rest arable and bracken. The soil is light and sandy, chalk and flint.
Nesting Ground. — The partridges nest in the corn, sain- foin, and clover, also at the edges of the woods ; there are no hedges. I always have keepers walking ahead of the mower when the sainfoin, etc., are being cut ; if they are cut early, many scores of nests are cut out and smashed.
Nesting Season. — If you find tlie nests and visit them
11
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frequently, you generally act as a guide-post to egg-stealers. In this respect keepers must exercise great caution ; nests should not be visited when the dew is on, or when very wetj or in long grass, when the keeper's tracks are visible.
Taking early nests and late nests, I think the average number of eggs will be about 15. I once counted 84 nests and that is what they averaged, the highest having 23 eggs and the lowest 5. I always pick up a few part- ridge eggs from ruined nests and put them in an incubator ; if