CLOSE SEASONS.
Something was said in this place last week of she wisdom and humanity of not shooting partridges after they have begun to pair. I see with pleasure that in a very exhaustive inquiry into the alleged decline of the partridge the chief specialist on the Field urges the postponement of the close season from September 1st to October 1st. It is obvious, I think, that the dates of the close seasons in England need revisal, not necessarily in regard to partridges, but generally. It amazes and distresses foreign sportsmen, though they are thought less humanitarian than we are, that there is no close time for hares (though in certain months they may not be sold), and that deer are so little protected. In Newfoundland a short close season for caribou is interpolated in October. In the case of a bird obviously diminishing it would be worth while to limit the season for one or two years, say, from October to December inclusive, in the case of partridges. The experiment would at any rate be interesting. In many places to-day the coveys are already split up into pairs.
W. BEACH THOMAS.
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