The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-08-25
Driving Partridges.

According to the modern system half
q dozen guns and half dozen beaters,
each with Il retriever behind him, walk
in line through the turnips, going from
one field to another, knocking over the
birds as they rise in front of them like
pigeons, never stopping to look for n
runner or caring to mark covey. This
method Of proceeding, in time, becomes
exceedingly monotonous, and it is no
wonder that men have ceased to care
about days shooting as they used to
do. To leave the house about II, after
lounge in the stable-yard with cigar,
to march through the turnips for two or
three hours, and then to find sumptu-
Gus lunch laid out for them in farm
house, with champagne, hot outlets,
lobster salad, and what not, and to walk
again for two hours afterward, returning
home to finish the day with billi ards be
fore the late dinner, is now the regular
practice with many men who 80 years
ago would have worked hard from 8
o'clock to 6, and have taken more plea
sure i'll seeing their dogs work than in
making the largest bag. Another con-
sequence of the want of cover which is
how experienced on most manors is TINT
the practice of driving birds has come
into fashion, not only late in the season
or among Frenchmen, but early in Sep
tember and where tho birds are all Eng
llsl. There Is no eAonoion to describe
this branch of the sport Mt my length.
The shooters are either placed in little
huts or behind screens of boughs set up
Tor the occasion, or, when the sport is
extemporized, behind the tallest hedge
that can be found within the probable
range of flight, and the birds are then
driven toward tho guns by as large n
party of men rs can be mustered. Skill
and directions arc required both in driv-
ing the birds and in shooting them when
driven. Partridges are no exception to
what is the rule with almost all animals.
wild or tame; they are very "orkard" to
drive. Try to drive sheep through n
gateway, or even COWS or horses, and tho
chances arc that many of them head
back md give you run round the field
again after them. And so it is with
birds. Unless the line Of the beaters is
formed i'll proper crescent, and the
flight af the birds has been very aceu-
ratcly studied, not one covey in half a
dozen will como the right way. When,
however, it is properly managed, and the
guns arc in good hands, the process is
murderous. Almost every bird in a
covey comes within shot of some one.
and party Of five or six guns may kill
thoir 30 or DO brace in this manner,
where by the ordinary method they
would not kill quarter of the number.
Something else, too, which we have rs
yet omitted to mention has had good
deal to do with the change which has
come over partridge e-shooting during the
last few years. As the early period was
tho flint period, so this third may be
styled the breoch-loading period. The
quickness with which men ean now load
makes them want to fire oftener, and, as
no one ever stands still to load his gun:
the dogs, where they arc still used, cease
to down charge and grow wild and viii
full More birds aro probably killed now
III good seasons than our grandfathers
ever dreamed Of. Still it can hardly bo
called sport, and is certainly not COM
parable with the old style of shooting,
which delighted our forefathers, and by
which in former times so many men Of
emincnce have lightened the cares of
state and refreshed tho overwrought
brain rccling under tho weight of en-
pircs.