Damascus - don't mean to argue, but how did they know who was good and who wasn't if they never kept scores? A few quotes, if I may:
Shortly afterwards King Edward had a very difl^erent
experience in the same neighbourhood when partridgedriving
with Count Trautmansdorff\ In a short day's
shooting the party bagged 500 brace of partridge, the
King himself accounting for 100 brace to his own
gun.
The keenness of King George's sporting instincts
is shown by several entries in the books, one of which
I may give :
—
" The Prince of Wales and Lord Crichton shooting
at Frankfort Park. Began at 6 a.m. A very
dark morning. i rabbit, i woodcock, 43 duck,
3 teal."
On November 20, 1874, 42 woodcock were shot here.
Three years later, on the 9th of the month, 27 were
added to the bag ; and Wolferton Wood, exactly three
weeks later, oddly enough yielded precisely the same
number. In one year I find that 118 woodcock were
killed at Sandringham ; it is not unusual to come across
mention of days when 30 or thereabouts have been
shot. There is record of 31 on November 26, 1878 ;
on the 13th of this month in 1885 the total reached
47 ; that for the year 144. On January 27, 1893, 36
cock were obtained, his present Majesty King George
having accounted for 16, including a left and right.
Among monarchs whose names appear in the books,
in addition to that of the German Emperor, is His
Majesty King Alphonso, who was one of the guns on
November 7, 1907, when 725 partridges constituted
portion of the bag, the King of Spain entering vigorously
into the spirit of the sport.
From "King Edward VII as a Sportsman"
Partridge-driving was,
perhaps. His Royal Highness' favourite sport, and
was admirably managed under his personal instructions
to Jackson. The guns drew their numbers in
the morning, and after each drive moved on one place
to the right, so that each had a fair and even chance
of central or outside places, the Prince himself following
the same regulation. A score was kept by
each gun, and at the end of the day these seldom
exceeded the return, or, if a few birds were missing,
they were generally found by the keepers on the
following morning. There was some keen competition
on these occasions, but if any one killed a bird
which should have been left for his host, no one
regarded the incident half so good-naturedly as the
Prince himself. I always thought him a comparatively
better shot at driven partridges than at pheasants,
although, of course, the percentage of kills was less
than with the easier game.
From Lord Walsingham's contribution to "King Edward VII as a Sportsman".
And, a lovely anecdote told by Marquis Ripon, from the same book:
Two gentlemen, both, alas ! dead, were invited by
me to shoot grouse at Studley. I was most anxious
to see them compete in each other's company, for they
were both very fine shots. Mr. B. fancied himself
quite as good, if not better than, Mr. A., whilst I
considered the latter the better of the two. I did not
shoot myself, but during the first drive lay down in
the heather behind A.'s box. There was a sharp sidewind
blowing along the line of butts, and A., who
was up-wind of B., dropped a considerable number of
birds on to B.'s ground and the outskirts of it. The
moment the drive was over A. went to pick up his birds up-wind, and I, who had remained hidden in
the heather, saw B. come straight into A.'s ground,
collect as many birds as he could carry, and return to
his own ground, where he proceeded to drop them,
leaving them to be picked up later. This happened
several times during the day, but at the end of the
afternoon, notwithstanding the depredations of B., A.
beat him by something like eighty birds. Of course
I never told either of them what I had seen.
On another occasion when grouse driving, between
two of the drives I was much astonished to see a
shooter bombarding the butt next to him with dead
birds. As I approached I heard him shouting as he
cast the birds at his neighbour, ' Take the d__d
lot ! I don't care ! Take the lot, d__n you !
'
He was under the impression that his neighbour had
picked up some of his birds—and he very likely had !
