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Yielding perhaps
in economic importance to the Red Grouse, what may be called the social
influence of the Partridge is greater than that excited by any other wild
bird. Many rural parishes in the UK are more or less directly affected
in their movements and business by the coming in of Partridge-shooting,
and therefore, although it is certainly not an universally popular practice,
a few words on the theme of partidge hunting may not be out of place.
The use of Dogs as Pointers
From the days when men
learned to "shoot flying" until the latter half of the 19th century, dogs
were generally if not invariably used to point out where the "covey," as
a family-party of Partridges is called, was lodged, and the greatest pains
were taken to break in the "pointers" or "setters" to their duty. In this
way marvellous success was attained, and the delight lay nearly as much
in seeing the dogs quarter the ground, wind and draw up to the game, helping
them at times (for a thorough understanding between man and beast was necessary
for the perfection of the sport) by word or gesture, as in bringing down
the bird after it had been finally sprung. There were many who lamented
that the old-fashioned practice of shooting Partridges to dogs, with rare
exceptions, fell into desuetude around the late 19th century, and it is
commonly believed that this followed wholly from the desire to make increasingly
larger bags of game. This opinion has a certain amount of truth for its
base; but those who hold it omit to notice the wholly changed circumstances
in which Partridge-shooters now found themselves. Before the late 19th
century there were plenty of broad, tangled hedgerows which afforded permanent
harbour for the birds, and at the beginning of the shooting-season admirable
shelter or "lying" (to use the sportsman's word) was found in the rough
stubbles, often reaped knee-high, foul with weeds and left to stand some
six or eight weeks before being ploughed, as well as in the turnips that
were sown broadcast. Throughout the greater part of England the fences
became reduced to the narrowest of boundaries in the late 19th century,
and were mostly trimly kept; the stubbles - mown, to begin with, as closely
as possible to the ground - being ploughed within a short time of the corn
being carried, and the turnips are drilled in regular lines, offering inviting
alleys between them along which Partridges take foot at any unusual noise.
Pointers in such a district - and to this state of things all the arable
part of England started to rapidly tend towards around that time - are
simply useless, except at the beginning of the season, when the young birds
are not as yet strong on the wing, and the old birds are still feeble from
moulting their quill-feathers.
Partridge Driving
From the late 19th century
therefore other modes of shooting Partridges had to be employed, of
which methods the most popular is that known as "driving" - the "guns"
being stationed in more or less concealment at one end of the field, or
series of fields, which is entered from the other by men or boys who deploy
into line and walk across it making a noise to scare the birds in a certain direction. Much knowledge of the ways
of Partridges is needed to ensure a successful day's "driving" as was required
of old when nearly everything was left to the intelligence of the dogs,
for the course of the birds' flight depends not only on the position of
the line of beaters, but almost on the station of each person composing
it, in relation to the force and direction of the wind and to the points
on which it is desired that the Partridges should converge. Again, the
skill and alacrity needed for bringing down birds flying at their utmost
velocity, and often at a considerable height, is enormously greater than
that which sufficed to stop those that had barely gone 20 yards from the
dog's nose, though admittedly Partridges rise very quickly and immediately
attain great speed. Moreover, the shooting of Partridges to pointers came
to an end in little more than six weeks, whereas "driving" may be continued
for the whole season, and is never more successful than when the birds,
both young and old, have completed their moult, and are strongest on the
wing.
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