COUNTRY LIFE
The First If a schoolboy were asked in a general intelligence paper -: "To what month does The First' belong " he would certainly say " September." Why we should all know the day when the partridge may be lawfully shot it is difficult to deter- mine. Perhaps one unessential reason is that the year does more saliently change about that date than any other. Stubble and in these days filth succeed to standing corn. The September air has a different smell from the August. Light mists, full of the savour of the earth, dissipate into softer days. The " season of mist and mellow fruitfulness " has indeed begun. But " the First " belongs the to a general end of one season, the close season, and the beginning of another, the open season ; but distinctively to the partridge.
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