Vermin and Game
A great sportsman tells m..t that he has never seen so many partridg as have flourished this year in his particular neighbourhood. While grouse have been decimated largely by excess of vermin, the partridge seems to have escaped this particular enemy. Among so-called vermia there seems to be a great multiplication of the hedge-hog. It is furtive and fond of the night that few people realise the great numbers They are among the least vulnerable of animals, except in one particular Their scent is strong, and it is my experience that no animal in list so excites dogs of all sorts. A favourite spaniel of mine has retriev them for me, quite regardless of the spines, while looking for a s pheasant, and another could not be persuaded to leave a hedge-hog had found, though she did not dare to touch it. Rats, I think, are destructive of partridge nests than stoats or weasels. I have known rat to drag the eggs one by one through a chestnut paling and ca them off.
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