The Monmouth inquirer., 1922-09-07
Systems That Have Been Tried on
Estates in That Country.

ESTATES III tHdb 0OuHtFys
ThEre are not many methods of as
sisting nature on a partridge manor,
azd of these still fewer have been
tried with any success in England.
says writer In the London Times
1t Is safe to lay down as a general
rule that the very essence of success
with partridges lies in employing a
good keeper and killing down the yer-
min. Without these essentials any
money spent on exploiting new sys-
TENS is so much thrown away; with
them a good deal can no doubt be
done. The increased bags made in
: the last few years on many estates
are to be attributed far more to in
creased attention than to the intro
duction of driving. purchase of Hun
garian birds, or any Of the other much
talked Of factors OF success.
Partridges are sometimes hatched
and reared under hens in the same
way as pheasants. This can, however
only be done successfully on a large
scale where the soil is particularly
Ssuitable, and where there are large
quantities OF ant heaps which can
be dug up to provide the young birds
with natural food Even where
large quantity have been successfully
reared they are apt to remain togetn
or in one large pack, and are almost
igupossible to break up and bring for
ward in series of drives.
The French method of inducing
birds to pair ana lay in captivity was
much talked of some few years ago,
and was tried on certain number
of estates. Recently very little has
been heard of (which would hard
" have been the case il it had met
with even partial success. The re-
suits in every case appear to have
been failure in greater or less de-
gree; and from the reports Of few
enthusiasts wshc have been to France
to roe how X is done il wowld seem
THAT even th8Fs iE Is usually carried
out on quite small scale. more as
a hobby than anything else. ana en-
tails an amount Of trouble which is
out Of proposition to the results
Many owners and lessees OF par
fridge manors are looking forward to
the Introduction of the .Euston sys-
tenn" This method of raising par
tridges may be very briefly described
as follows: The eggs are collected
as they are Matched and are replaced
by rotten partridges' eggs, pneas-
ants eggs, or limitations sufficiently
realistic to deceive the parent bird.
They are incubated under hens until
just ready to hatch, when they are
replaced in the nest under the old
bird, which matches them off in few
hours and runs off with a ready made
covey. The dangerous period of incu-
baton, during which the partridge
is exposed to various risks from stray
dogs, foxes and vermin, is under this
system reduced to a minimum, and
even If the nest is destroyed while
filled with substituted eggs the real
eggs are safe and can be used TO make
up another nest
There is another plan so simple that
1t can hardly be dignifed by the name
of system. which has been tried
on estates where foxes are plentiful.
It consists In placing wire netting
around the nest sufficiently large in
mesh to allow the old bird to get
through and yet small enough to keep
large vermin out. The netting used
Is the ordinary sheep netting with a
four-inch mesh. About ten yards of
netting are required for each nest,
making circle with ten-foet diam
eter, sufficiently large for the bird to
remain undistsIrbed by fox or dog
outside the wire. This Is an import
ant consideration, as IL the bird is
suddenly disturbed and hits the wire
In flying of her nest she will proba-
bly, desert The wire is put around
when the hen is laying. and she ap-
parently soon becomes accustomed to
walking through the meshes in get
ting ON and on the nest Some keep
ers put the wire down some distance
from the nest and gradually bring it
closer, but this seems quite unneces-
sary
The obvious objection TO this plan
is the assistance it gives to egg steal
ers. In ordinary circumstances the
egg stealer has to work by day and
runs considerable risk OF capture. but
where the nests are plainly located by
wire netting there Is nothing to pre-
vent him from working with lantern
by night In practice the eggs have
not been taken, and the poacher may
consider that all eggs so protected are
possibly marked with the owners
name in invisible ink. This was ac
tually done in one case reported and eI-
fectually disposed of the defense put
forward that the eggs came off a small
farm in the prisoners occupation In
many districts where foetpaths are
numerous there would be worse
danger from the curiosity Of women
and children: and this constitutes the
great objection to the plan, which