Uruguay
So great has been the slaughter of these birds, however, during the last few years, for the sake of the feathers, which are largely exported to the United States and Europe, that one may now ride hundreds of leagues from Buenos Ayres without seeing one. From another source we learn that for some years back the number of birds killed has averaged 400,000 per annum, and as a consequence the species has already disappeared from nearly half the territory of the River Plate.
In Patagonia a smaller species is found known to naturalists as Darwin's Rhea.
It differs from the common rhea in its smaller size and shorter legs, which feathered to the tarsus, and in having the plumage mottled, or less uniform in colour. are it is unnecessary to treat here, since neither their habits nor the modes of capturing them seem to bring them within the category of sport.
J. E. HARTING.
QUANANICHE (Salmo trutta). The ouananiche, falsely called the land-locked salmon, is a salmonoid inhabiting some of the rivers and lakes of the Great Labrador Peninsula. The fish is said to be the same salmonoid which inhabits various lakes in the Province of Maine on the north-eastern corner of the United States territory.
There, from the name, Sebago, of the lakes that it inhabits, it is known as the salmo salar (Sebago). Whether the land-locked salmon of Maine be identical or no with the Canadian fish, it is known to be somewhat different in some of its habits from the ouananiche-notably in not rising to a flyand it is of the Canadian fish, the ouananiche itself, that I now write. QUANANICHE] Classification.-Before going into further details, I must justify the name which I give to this hitherto unclassified fish of salmo trutta (ouananiche), instead of assuming that of salmo salar (ouananiche), which my friend and angling companion, Mr. E. T. D. Chambers, of Quebec, is inclined to assign to it in his splendid book on the fish, entitled The Ouananiche and its Canadian Environment. Mr. Chambers, in suggesting this nomenclature for the fish, accepts the opinion formed by Professor Samuel Garman, of Cambridge, Mass., that the ouananiche and the sea-salmon-the salmo salar are one and the same fish.
From this opinion I have always dissented.
In my introduction to Mr. Chambers's book I find that I made use of the following sentences:or "From the observations I took of the behaviour of the fish, my previous opinion, that the ouananiche was a salmon trout and not a salmon, was confirmed. Except in two cases, all of the fish confined themselves chiefly to jumping, as is the way with all the varieties of sea trout (be they known as whitling, sewen, salmon peel, truff, merely salmon trout), which we catch in the British Islands from the northernmost island of the Shetland group down to the southernmost extremity of Cornwall. Now, as all salmon fishers know, the salmo salar may jump occasionally, and in fact, unless an unusually heavy fish, will throw himself out of the water once or twice-three times even: but his principal tactics lie in making spirited dashes up and down the stream, making the reel screech again, and bringing the angler's heart further up into his mouth with every extra yard of line taken out." sea.
These were my words regarding the fish in 1892, and further experience of the ouananiche - his habits, customs, and general appearance-in 1896 did but convince me more firmly than ever that the ouananiche is not a land-locked salmon, but a land-locked salmon trout. I merely use the word land-locked here in the sense of a fish that does not go up and down to the Land-locked in the rivers and lakes of the Labrador Peninsula he never really is; he has everywhere free access to the sea, and in almost all the rivers and lakes where he has hitherto been found he would, did he so choose, with his enormous leaping powers, be able to re-ascend to the waters whence he originally came. But with one or two very rare exceptions, when he has been taken in the higher tidal waters of the Saguenay River, the fish has never been found in the salt water. As regards his appearance, I have compared together a Scotch salmon trout and a grilse, or small salmon, of similar weight. The former was so like a ouananiche that I would have defied any Montagnais Indian to have been able to select him from among a heap of the latter fish. The grilse was not like a ouananiche at all. Therefore, after having taken the opinion of an experienced angler who has, like myself, caught salmo salar, salmo trutta, and ouananiche galore, I am convinced that the correct generic name for this hitherto unnamed species of the salmon tribe should be that with which I have headed this monograph-salmo trutta (ouananiche).
But now to describe the fish and its habits from a sportsman's point of view.
Habitat. The word ouananiche-pronounced whan-a-niche is the Montagnais Indian name for a small species of the salmon tribe which was, until lately, considered to inhabit solely the waters of the Lake St. John in the northern part of the OUANANICHE.
Province of Quebec, the magnificent rivers feeding the lake, and the upper waters of the mighty Saguenay River by which the lake discharges its flood into the Atlantic Ocean. Although in very recent years Mr.
A. P. Low, of the Geological Survey of Canada, has established its presence in many far-away rivers in the hitherto unexplored portions of the enormous Labrador Peninsula, such is the inaccessibility of those rivers, and so many hundred miles of trackless forest separate them from civilisation, that for many years to come it is to the Lake St. John rivers that the ordinary angler will still have to go who wishes to form a closer acquaintance with this very sporting specimen of the salmon tribe.
Habits and Methods of Capture. In these rivers the ouananiche loves to dwell in the most furious and rapid waters. The foaming eddies at the sides of the most frightful rapids, the whirlpools at the side of the main stream just at the foot of some mighty cataract, are usually, after the ice has melted, the best places for the artificial fly, the phantom minnow, or some other small artificial bait. In the still waters of Lake St. John itself, in Lake Tschotogama, which is a beautiful lake far up the Peribonca River, in the Lac à Jim and various other lakes, he is also taken, and all the year round by the Montagnais Indians, and the French Canadian "habitants" of these districts, by trolling with a spoon and with various natural baits. In the winter season, they take him in Lake St. John by nets cunningly set under the ice. The ouananiche, as caught by the angler in the terrible waters of the Grande Décharge as the main issue of the River Saguenay from Lake St. John is called-vary much in size, according to the season of the year. They can be caught with a fly there from the beginning of June till the middle of August, from half a pound in weight to four or five pounds, all the larger fish being taken in the earlier part of the year. As the season advances the large ones travel round the lake and ascend the great feeders, the Peribonca, Little Peribonca, Ashuapmouchouan, Mistasibi, and Mistassini. Further down the Saguenay, some seven or ten miles from the Grande Décharge, both large and small fish can be taken with fly all the season in the awful rapids and whirlpools round the "Ile Maligne"; but none but those who have a stout heart will care to trust themselves, in a birch bark canoe, to run the tremendous rapids, while the return up the river is still more alarming.
By far the best fly fishing after the third week in June is to be found up the Mistassini and Peribonca Rivers, where a small Jock Scott used on a trout rod, with a strong trout cast, will be found to give the most successful results. A very good second fly, to be used as a dropper, is the Haggard fly on a No. 8 or No. 9 hook. It is tied as follows: Body, yellow wool with gold tinsel ringing; partridge hackle, and a woodcock wing. These rivers must be ascended with Indian or half-breed guides in birch bark canoes, and a camping-out kit must be taken, which can be obtained at the Hotel Roberval at the terminus station of the Quebec and Lake St. John railroad, 190 miles from Quebec.
The best river of all in August is undoubtedly the Metabetchouan, which flows into the lake from the south side at a point twenty-five miles from Roberval village.
It is, however, the phantom minnow rather than the fly which will take the fish in the Metabetchouan at that time of year, when they are running up to spawn.
Dimensions. The ouananiche has rarely been known to exceed 8 lb. in weight, and it is indeed doubtful if any fish caught with fly or bait, and said to be of 8 lb. in weight, has ever been weighed in such a public manner that there could be no doubt about [OUANANICHE his dimensions. For all practical purposes a 7-lb. fish is a very large one indeed; 6-pounders even, although I have caught them, are not at all common. Here is a list of the largest known to have been caught and names of the captors :- Louis Webbe, of New York, in 1892, with fly, one of 8 lb.; Mrs. J. B. Lee, at the Grande Décharge, August 10th, 1894, with a spoon, one of 7½ lb.; Thomas La Roche, spoon, a French Canadian guide, with bait, in Lake St. John, one (said to weigh) 8 lb.; A. J.
Ritchie, with a small Jock Scott fly, at the Ile Maligne, in July, 1896, one of 7 lb.
I saw this last fish myself after he had been out of the water many hours. He then only weighed 6 lb., but he had dried up considerably with the sun.
Sometimes a very free rising creature, at others most capricious and hard to move, when actually hooked the ouananiche is probably the most elastic fish in creation.
He has an enormous tail for his size, and, making the most tremendous leaps, tears away at the fly in the air like a bulldog shaking a rat. Naturally he often escapes.
He is in colour and marking usually just like a salmon trout that has been some time out of the salt water.
His flesh is pink, or rather red, being a different shade from that of a salmon. To be really good, he should be cooked absolutely fresh-within half an hour of catching, if possible. If kept a few hours, the flesh becomes woolly.
For any further information on this most lively and game trout of the inland waters of the Labrador Peninsula, the sportsman should turn to Mr. E. T. D. Chambers's book, which was published by Harper Brothers of New York in July, 1896.
ANDREW C. P. HAGGARD.
OVIS AMMON-In dealing with this sheep it is necessary to discriminate between the true Ovis ammon and the so-called ammon ar of the Himalayan sportsman. The former is an inhabitant of the desert ranges of Southern Siberia, whereas the latter, which should be termed Ovis ammon hodgsoni, is the big sheep of the Himalayan sportsman, and is known to the Tibetans as nyan.
Horn Measurements. As regards the true ammon, Mr. Rowland Ward gives the maximum length of the horns as 62 inches round the curve, with a circumference at the base of 19 inches, whilst the record length of hodgsoni is 57 inches, and girth at base, 18 inches. It will be noticed that though the length of the horns in the two races is very different, the girth at OVIS AMMON] the base does not seem to be proportionately so-a fact which gives to the head of hodgsoni a very massive appearance. The horns are rugose, especially at the base.
So far as the shape of the head is con- OVIS AMMON. 6 cerned, in the horns of the true ammon the lateral twist which is so prominent a feature in those of poli is observable, whereas the horns of hodgsoni terminate with a forward and upward curve, close to the head, and but slightly turned outwards. In fact, an instance is known to the writer in which the eye is so completely covered by this upward turn that a lateral view must have been an impossibility to the animal. A circumstance which renders it difficult to get an absolutely accurate measurement of the horns of these sheep is the fact that in almost all the heads of old rams that are obtained, a portion, often some inches in length, is broken off the tips of the horns, the result of fighting.
Habits. The habits of the rams of both races are similar; the rams separating themselves from the ewes during the hot months, and living in isolated herds or groups. Two facts have been especially noted by sportsmen who have pursued the ammon: first, that while several good herds may be found upon ground not apparently very favourable, the hunter may subsequently search a locality for weeks without seeing a track, though the country may appear in every way suited to them; secondly, that it is the old rams which are the most difficult to find, and that herd after herd of females and young may be encountered before any ram worth shooting is met with. Not infrequently the sportsman has to leave the ground without having added the coveted trophy to his bag, though, if he is lucky, or knows where to look for them, he may come upon a herd of rams, any one of whose heads would amply repay him for the trouble he has taken.
Shape, &c.-A full-grown ram of hodgsoni stands, on an average, about 12 hands, and weighs from 200 to 300 lb.
In colour the rams are dark brown on the back, with a slightly defined medial line. shading off into a lighter tint on the flanks and quarters; the tail is very short. An old ram has a very distinct ruff of lightcoloured hair on the throat, while the neck of the female is of a darker shade, her horns being thin, and seldom exceeding 20 inches in length. By anyone unaccustomed to the appearance of the nyan, great difficulty is at first experienced in appreciating the probable length of the horns which are being scanned. This is due partly to their colour, and, more especially, to the peculiar curve which makes it very hard to see the horns clearly from a distance.
Thus the inexperienced sportsman will not infrequently be very much disappointed when he comes to measure the head of the animal that he has successfully stalked and shot; let us hope that this is the cause of so many heads being obtained of which the possessor has no reason to be proud, and which would have been much better left to OVIS HODGSONI. grow into legitimate trophies. Though the actual length of the horns is so difficult to determine, there is no mistaking an old ram when he is sighted, both from the darker colour of his body, and from the ruff of long white hair on the throat, which is a very noticeable feature in a patriarch. A fact that is very striking in the form of these mountain sheep is the almost deer-like slenderness of the legs, which seem quite disproportionate to the sturdy body which they support; but anyone who has seen a herd racing away after his shot has been fired will realise the fact that they are eminently well adapted to the work of carrying their N Valdwell 97 HEAD OF OVIS HODGSONI. owners over the rough stones of the desert hills where they are to be found.
Stalking. The shooting of a fine specimen of Ovis ammon hodgsoni has been described as "the blue riband of Himalayan sport," and there is no doubt that the pursuit of this animal is one of the most fascinating that any sportsman can desire; even the most blasé may well be excused an excess of "buck fever" as he levels his rifle at the shoulder of a veteran ram; such a splendid fellow does he look with his white ruff and his massive head. By many writers he has been described as being very difficult to stalk, but it is probable that though his sense of sight and scent, more especially of scent, is very acute, the chief difficulty lies in the shifty winds that prevail at these altitudes, notably in the vicinity of snow, and in the extremely open nature of the ground where he feeds and takes his midday siesta. As is the case with most wild animals, there is always one wary sentry taking his turn to watch while the others sleep. Should there be any sort of cover, or should the wind hold steady, the writer has not found him [OVIS AMMON more difficult to approach than other mountain animals; but should a puff come at your back, even though you may be at a distance of half a mile, up will go all the heads in an instant, and you will be lucky if you get a shot that day, as a nyan travels a good deal quicker at, say, an altitude of 17,000 feet than does any human being.
Weapon. As regards the weapon to be used, every sportsman knows what suits him best, but the vitality of this sheep is extraordinary, and the writer has known a case where the bullet from a 450 express did not miss the heart by an eighth of an inch, yet the ram went off with the rest of the herd apparently unhurt, and did not lie down until he had covered eight miles of rough ground and snow-slopes; though (fortunately for the sportsman, who was watching through his glass, and might otherwise have thought that he had scored a miss) he very soon turned away from the remainder of the herd, a sure sign with most animals that they have been seriously wounded. In fine, the sportsman who pursues the nyan in his native fastnesses amongst the snowy summits and manycoloured plains of Ladak and Tibet, as he gazes on the lifeless form and massive head of the ram that he has successfully found, stalked and shot, will feel that he is well rewarded. [See also article, "Big Game," Vol. I., p. 248, where Ovis ammon and the allied forms are referred to under the Turki name ARGALI.] F. E. S. ADAIR.
PALL MALL. - [See SPORT, OBSO- LETE.] PARTRIDGE-REARING.-Partridges found in this country are of two kinds, the common Grey Partridge (Perdrix cinerea) and the French, or Red Legged variety (Caccabis rufa). Partridges follow the plough, and although found in considerable numbers in grass countries, yet arable land is necessary to support a large stock.
Some preservers maintain that partridges and pheasants require the same insect food, and that a large head of pheasants cannot be maintained without a corresponding diminution in partridges. Wild birds pair from the middle of January to the third week in February according to the locality and the season, and begin laying towards the end of April. Eggs from nests that are cut out by the mowing machine, as well as those that are laid on the boundaries, or in public situations, should be collected and hatched under foster mothers.
PARTRIDGE] Exactly as in the case of pheasant rearing, the practice of buying eggs indiscriminately is open to grave objections, and the remark applies with double force to NEST OF GREY PARTRIDGE. the case of partridges' eggs. Rather than buy eggs of strangers, we much prefer to recommend the purchase and turning down of Hungarian birds. These can be bought at about nine shillings a brace in December.
If time is not a matter of great moment, the stock of birds may be increased by turning out a few Hungarians every year, and shooting lightly for the first two or three seasons. The earlier they are turned out, the better. Birds should always be turned down at night in the neighbourhood of their water and food supply. If this does not exist, provide both. On the night that your keeper turns them down, let him first separate the sexes, and then place about four hens in one spot, and the same number of cocks at a distance, repeating the process while the birds last. This will give them the chance of mating with English birds the same season. In preference to handrearing partridges, some keepers adopt the plan of placing the eggs that have been picked up under other wild hens. An experienced keeper tells us that the nest of a wild bird may always be safely made up to twenty-three eggs. Of course, the eggs thus transferred must be as nearly as possible in the same state of incubation. large estates it is a good plan to change eggs found on one part for those taken from another nest three or four miles distant.
English partridge eggs placed in a red leg's nest seldom do well, but English birds make capital mothers to the young French birds.
When foster mothers are required, a cross between bantam and game is the best.
These will take twenty-five eggs each, and should hatch 90 per cent.
On Partridges can be reared easily enough if a supply of fresh ants' eggs can be got for them twice a day. It is best if the coops can be placed where ant hills abound. In addition, they will require mixed food three times a day, a little at a time. Diarrhœa is the chief source of loss amongst young partridges, and is frequently to be traced to the use of sour food and stale eggs. After they are three weeks old there is little trouble in rearing them. When the birds are old enough to move from the rearing ground, which is at about six to eight weeks, they should be taken, in lots of from ten to fifteen, and placed by the side of roots in different parts of the estate out of hearing of each other. This prevents the birds from packing. If there are wild birds in the immediate neighbourhood, they will probably join each other unless they are too thick on the ground, which must be avoided.
If turned down in larger lots, they are apt to pack and go off the manor.
Some preservers obtain their change of blood by removing the wild birds from one part of the estate to another. The ordinary coop trap is set, and the birds are taken while at feed. Kill two out of three cocks, and remove the remainder to the spot where you intend to turn them out. Keep them still under the coop and feed them sparingly. In two or three days they will get quite tame. Then go in the evening, tilt up the coop, and the birds will walk out YOUNG GREY PARTRIDGE. quite quietly. Poachers take partridges with long nets, and many sorts of vermin destroy them and their eggs (see PRESERVA- TION OF GAME).
REARING IN PENS. - A partridge season, good or bad, is so largely dependent upon the weather and other causes that for some time past various schemes and suggestions have been contemplated to remedy this uncertainty, and to introduce some practical method for the breeding of partridges by more or less artificial means. There is little doubt that the same successful results obtained in the breeding of Breeding Peps Tobe placed from 1.2 10. 20 yde apart in Cover ELEVATION Turt Walt 12 inobes Thick - 36 bigb 18 diameter PLAN 20 Scale'yafan Incb to a Fool. pheasants can be accomplished in the case of the wilder and smaller bird.
The first important step in the breeding and rearing of all game is to secure the services of an intelligent and sympathetic keeper, and, provided that the following instructions are carefully followed, it will be found that the comparatively small expenditure and trouble entailed will amply repay the experiment.
These instructions and plans illustrate a [PARTRIDGE system that has been tried with complete success for some years past, and are well worth the attention of those who are interested in increasing their stock of partridges by legitimate means.
Although the details of this scheme seem somewhat simple, they must nevertheless be most carefully followed, and it is hardly necessary to say that inattention or carelessness of any description will entail failure.
Meeb Wire Netting Y4" Mesb Wire Neting 14 12 Turf Wall 25 Feet 2 a Permanent Large Pen. From quarter to half an acre will carry from 60 to 100 brace of birds, which should be in their quarters by December I or before.
The land should be poor, must be well drained, and there should be as much rough grass as possible. If a natural slope with southern aspect can be found, so much the better. a This must be enclosed in a wire fence 7 feet high (supfir 3 ported with poles), turned out at the bottom 6 inches under the soil. If the pen is placed in an open position, wattle hurdles, feet high at least, should be run round it; on the north side the wattle hurdles should be 7 feet high.
Along the north side, viz., facing south, should be a sloping shelter of thatch about 3 feet high at the back, right against the wire and wattle hurdles, for the birds to shelter in and sun themselves, and sloping to within about I foot from the ground.
There should be some heaps of sand for the birds to scratch and play with, and be planted. with, and some cabbages may be may Small Pens within Large Pen. Eight small pens, with the doors left open, where PARTRIDGE] the birds will retire to as they pair, in order to get away from the others, must be enclosed in the large pen, as shown. When once inside these small pens the doors should be shut, the pairs caught in a landing net and transferred to the breeding pen.
These pens should be quite close to and in view of the keeper's cottage, as the birds require continual watching when pairing, so as to be at once removed to the breeding pens after pairing; clumps of brush-wood should be stuck firmly into the ground, and as a permanent cover patches of broom privet and birch should be planted.
Small Breeding Pens, not Permanent. These must be round and well drained, 8 to IO yards in diameter, and placed in a young cover or scrub, close to the keeper's house.
It is very important that the birds should not think they are in captivity - hence the necessity of round pens; there must be plenty of rough grass in them, and at fre- Large Pen or Enclosure 1/2 an Acre is Extenr. 3 Pan Per Dan Pen 6 inches from the ground, to prevent rats and other vermin walking up and entering the pen from the top; ordinary pea guards answer the purpose, but they should be made of 1-inch instead of -inch mesh.
Earth Sods. There should be earth sods built up all round each pen on the outside 50laras Thathed Shelter 50 Yarde PLAN Wire relting over Tof of sesirable Posle for Pero Pen F Pen Pen. 50 Yards quent intervals good thick pieces of fir 0510 20 30 40 50 Scate of Feat. 100 150 or other evergreen 10 15 20 40 45 Scale of Yards. placed up against the wire. Cabbages should be planted, and heaps of sand provided for dusting purposes.
The whole must be enclosed with wire, which at the bottom should be of very small mesh, first to prevent vermin from coming in; secondly, to prevent the young birds when hatched from getting through.
A band of wire should also be run all round the outside of the pen, turned over in the shape of a shepherd's crook, and laced to the other wire at a height of 3 feet of the wire to the height of 3 feet 6 inches, to prevent the birds from seeing those in the next pen, which should be 12 yards away, and this is most important; if earth sods are not used, reed mats, which can be obtained in sizes suitable, can be substituted.
Only one, and he should be the same man, should ever go near the pens when once the pairs are fairly installed, which is generally by the first week in March; an old fishing net must be strained over the top of the small pens to prevent birds and vermin from coming in; the pen should be entered only once in 8 days; all feeding, &c., to be done quietly through the door.
Food. Birds in the big pen get wheat only, also water; pairs in the small pen get Brass Letter Clip.
A C B D A and B, small punched holes; C, three small eyelets; D, two small rubber tubes slipped over leather band to prevent the leather cutting partridge. A and B to be placed round shoulder and C placed through the wing at third long feather and joined to A and B with a brass letter clip. a very small quantity of water till the eggs are hatched off, and then no water at all, unless a very dry season, in which case a water-pot with rose on end may be used for sprinkling through the wire netting.
While laying, birds get a little bread, eggs, and biscuit mashed up like pheasants' food; [PARTRIDGE young birds get ants' eggs twice a day, but no water.
How to Catch the Young Birds to Turn Them Out. - When the young birds are from 12 to 16 days old they are turned out with their parents, alongside of a corn-field for choice, but not near sanfoin or other green crops. As there is a difficulty in catching them out of the pen, the old birds are first caught with a landing net and put into a coop placed inside the pen with a bottom to it, and a hole at the back with a shutter, and a slide in front, which can be let down by a string after all the young birds have gone in in the evening when called by their parents; then the coop can be easily carried to the corn-field, and both the old and young birds let out.
Stock Birds. The partridges put into the pens are either tame bred or wild birds from different localities, in an equal division as regards sex; they should be tamed as much as possible, because if still wild when put into the small pens they will not nest properly, but drop eggs all over the pens; if a bird when commencing to lay lays her eggs all over the pen, the first five or six eggs should be put where she laid her first egg, as she may then go on laying there; if she does not, the eggs should be put under a bantam, and the pair turned out.
Clips. Clips of a proper pattern, made of soft, pliable kid, not stiff leather, to prevent the birds flying against the wire, are used, and these are removed when the old birds are caught for turning out with their brood.
This so-called French system of increasing the stock of partridges should only be regarded as a supplementary one, and where it is adopted keepers should in no way relax their efforts to safeguard the ordinary stock on the ground and their offspring.
It is true that in many districts where the land has been thrown out of cultivation, and where large tracks have been sown down, partridges have decreased on account of their not having been able to procure sufficient food and water, but much might be done to remedy this if they were fed, the old ones would not want to leave the ground in bad weather, and the young ones would thrive.
There are many avoidable things which militate against a good stock of partridges on the ground on September 1st:- (1) The enormous number of rats often seen, which take all the eggs they come across. (2) Insufficient protection of the nests from rooks, jackdaws, dogs, and possibly foxes. م Archibald Thorbe After Archibald Thorburn.
PARTRIDGE.
PARTRIDGE] (3) Wet seasons, when the French system is found to be of the greatest advantage. (4) Shooting too hard and not leaving sufficient stock. (5) Covering the cornfields with hen houses, bringing, in many cases, the diseases GREY PARTRIDGE ON NEST. to which chicken are liable, the hens eating all the natural food and corn which partridges would otherwise enjoy. (6) The enormous number of tame bred pheasants, which often have the run of the stubbles and reduce the food for the partridges. (7) Slackness on the part of keepers during the pheasant breeding, when some of the men should do nothing else but look after the partridges and their nests and keep down the vermin. (8) Importing Hungarian partridges too late in the season. (9) Poisonous corn dressing, sheep dips, and manure from large towns, which must be deleterious.
Statement of partridges hatched in pens and turned down by three keepers on the same estate, season 1905:older method of shooting over dogs. From some points of view this is to be regretted, because the working of well-trained dogs adds pleasure to sport.
Where fields are large and birds numerous, so that the party consists of many guns, the best plan is to half-moon each field, having one or more beaters between each gun according to the ground to be covered.
The line should be stopped as seldom as possible, but there should be under-men with retrievers in attendance, whose business it is to collect runners and birds that are not immediately recovered. These men, however, should be out of gunshot and in rear of the line. In some counties characterised by small fields, deep valleys, thick and high fences, and few roots, driving is impossible, but good sport can be had by a couple of guns walking up the birds. They should be accompanied by a steady pointer, a couple of retrievers who can face thick fences, two men to carry the game and beat, and two markers. The latter should be smart, active men, who can climb trees and have the eyesight of hawks. On such occasions, as on all others where you are following partridges, silence on the part of everyone is tive gun is fatal to sport. When you have the first essential. A noisy keeper or talka- Birds turned No. of No. of Keeper. pens. eggs.
Eggs hatched. out with parents.
No. I IO 172 144 124 2 16 دو وو 310 287 282 3 14 249 243 240 - Total 40 731 674 646 CHARLES C. TUDWAY.
SHOOTING.-Driving Partridges has become of late years so popular, and has been found to be practicable in so many parts of the country where formerly it was unheard of, that it is fast superseding the FRENCH OR RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES. settled which way you intend to work, send your markers well forward. They must take up their position on high ground or in the tops of some convenient trees, placed well apart so that the areas covered by their vision do not overlap. They must keep their eye on every root field, brake, rough pasture, or favourite fence where the birds are likely to pitch. Give the markers plenty of time before you attempt to find birds.
If you flush birds and shoot, it is not necessary that the keeper should shout "mark," but if you do not shoot, he may shoutonce. The report of the gun or the one cry should suffice to put the markers on the alert. Each marker should be provided with a whistle, as partridges hate the human voice, but do not take much notice of a whistle. When either of the markers has AN OLD GREY PARTRIDGE. marked birds, he should blow his whistle once, to which signal the keeper replies with a single whistle. Unless you are following birds you yourself have sighted, it is best to go at once to the marker and find out where the birds are. It is not a good plan to holloa to him across two or three fields and let him shout back at you. In the first place, he cannot explain exactly where the birds lie; and in the second place, your shouting makes them wild. Having ascertained the position of the birds as nearly as possible, go at once for them. If they are in a fence, put one gun on each side; this is most deadly where roots are scarce.
Having reached the spot where the birds pitched, the marker should blow his whistle once; if the birds do not rise, try your pointer and follow him up till you find them.
In such a country as we have described, the day's sport will almost entirely depend upon the competence of the markers, and their competence will be a matter of patient training. Some men can never be made good markers. They will neither notice the flight of birds, nor yet be able to describe the spot where they pitched, in the rare case of their having caught sight of them. [PARTRIDGE A good marker always has his eyes and -ears open. A covey may be flushed by some distant labourer, or by a blackberrying party, or the marker may see birds feeding on the stubble, or hear them calling; occasionally, also, a towered bird may fall within his sight. In any of these cases a single blow of his whistle will call the attention of the keeper and inform him that he has information to give. It is always best to work the same ground in the evening that you have worked in the morning. You will do no good with fresh birds after four o'clock.
If satisfied from your keeper's observations, or from your own, that there are plenty of birds on the beat, but you cannot find them, try every corner, especially round corn ricks, old quarry pits, rough brakes, and old lanes. After a wet, rough night, birds are often found packed together anywhere where they can find shelter, while on hot days they prefer dusting in shady lanes and open fallow.
As an instance of how partridges will sometimes elude the gun, we may quote the case of a farm which was shot over in the autumn of 1895. This farm was well stocked, and the keeper, two days before, had put seventy brace off one stubble, yet on this day scarcely a bird could be found.
The beat was along the seashore, and by chance a single bird was knocked down and fell over the cliff. An underkeeper, sent down to recover it, put up covey after covey from the shingle. They came up on the highest ground and a good bag was the result. It was a very hot day, and the birds had gone down to the cool sand and the shade of the rocks. When nearing the end of your beat, send the markers back, and let them take up similar positions for marking the birds, which will now be driven towards them from the opposite direction. 66 Driving. For driving, many people like a sprinkling of red legs. They go singly over the guns, and generally rise before the English birds. A manor should be large for driving, with farms from 300 to 500 acres each, mostly arable, intersected with belts of fir, or high hedges. A thousand acres is about the right size for a good day's driving." To make a good bag, the end of September is as good a time as any, as then the birds know their way about. It is not wise to make the drives too long, for, after the birds have risen the second time, they are nearly sure to go back over the beaters in order to reach their own ground.
There should be two sets of beaters, from twelve or twenty in each set. While one lot are driving, the other lot should be getting the birds together for the next drive.
PARTRIDGE] The beaters should approach the guns in a half-circle, with the most experienced men on the flanks and a good way in front. To prevent the birds breaking away, a man or two with flags should be placed on each side, a long way behind the guns; these will often turn the birds into the next beat. In an open down country, with no fences or belts to drive over, pits are sometimes dug at intervals about forty yards apart in a row, and planted with brushwood. Each pit is netted in with sheep-netting, and the brushwood is kept clipped; these pits answer well, not only for driving, but for sheltering the birds in rough weather and for nesting.
As a rule, the stock kept for breeding purposes on the manor is too small. To secure a good quantity for driving, your keeper till you begin driving in the last week in September. Shoot the outsides as much as you like, it will send birds on to your driving ground, but treat the latter as sacred. A month before you intend to drive, ride carefully round each beat, note the position and condition of each root piece, especially the hedges, for it is on these that you must depend for your sport. In a country with small fields, thick fences, and knolls, it is impossible to drive a big bit of country at one drive. Birds are sure to take the fences, and, when pitching on small fields, fallow, meadow, or stubble, will soon run together. Under these circumstances it is not possible to get the deadly scattered drives so often met with in the eastern counties. It is a good plan WALKING UP PARTRIDGES. a should be able to show you 100 brace of birds on the Ist of February, and, if the beat is a large one, say, 1,000 acres, still more birds should be left. Although partridge driving is becoming every year more popular form of sport, yet we are convinced there are many parts of the country where it is not yet introduced, but where it might be practised with considerable success. We will quote from the letter of an excellent sportsman, who has had considerable experience in partridge driving in what would ordinarily be called a bad country, and who has favoured us with his views on the subject. "The country referred to is hilly, the roots few and far between, and the fields mostly stubble. On such land the chief requirements are a good stock of birds, and a head keeper who knows his work. For driving purposes a far larger stock is absolutely necessary than for shooting over dogs. Having had a favourable breeding season, and acquired a fair stock of birds, make up your mind in August what part of your shooting you intend to drive, and do not fire a shot there