CHAPTER XIII 



SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF THE TWELFTH 



The art and the practice of shooting - grouse over dogs 

 have, within a generation, been so entirely superseded by 

 "driving," that it may nowadays seem an anachronism 

 even to refer to the earlier system. The reasons for the 

 change are well known, and have been so often discussed 

 that I will touch but lightly on them. Admittedly I 

 regret the entire supersession of the hunting-dog : not 

 because I dislike the substitute — driving (since the 

 reverse is, in fact, the case) — but because I hold that 

 the reasons for the supersession are, in many cases, 

 unproven and insufficient, and chiefly because it has 

 eliminated from moorland sport an intrinsically artistic 

 feature, namely, the arts of hunting and of fieldcraft. 

 These were, a generation ago, the pride of the moorland 

 fowler, with marksmanship as a necessary complement ; 

 nowadays it is marksmanship solely. 



The abandonment of clogs is defended on the ground 

 that grouse can no longer be so approached : and on 

 moors which are flat in contour, or where heather-burning* 

 is so rigidly carried out as to leave absolutely no holding- 

 covert, the contention is probably correct. On the 

 Borders, however, there exist areas of moorland to which 



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