176 LETTERS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



drives are undertaken. Barren birds can thus be badly 

 hammered, while the coveys are to a large extent passed 

 over. Unfortunately, many moors are ruined for dogging 

 by being driven without being suited to driving, and even if 

 larger stocks can be maintained on them than was the case 

 under old methods, the odds are that the killing of old birds 

 over dogs was neglected. Remember that driving postulates 

 thrice the extent of ground and thrice the number of guns : 

 the comparative number of days' pleasure per man under 

 the respective systems does not present an insoluble arith- 

 metical problem. And a moor of small or even moderate 

 size will not stand many days of good driving to good guns, 

 unless its situation renders it a " veritable game-trap," as 

 the advertisements sometimes inform us. 



And now to return to the all-important weather : rain 

 and its effects have been discussed and abused : suffice 

 it to add that an approaching or departing rainstorm often 

 has the same disturbing effect as rain actually descending. 

 Do not take the weather too seriously, or in some seasons 

 and places you will seldom leave the house. But the Wind — 

 with a capital " W " — is a factor which must ever be upper- 

 most in your calculations : to It must strategy and tactics 

 be subordinated : should It change in course of the day, 

 you must have some alternative scheme for working the 

 ground in readiness : at which end of your beat to begin, 

 how to work the ground to the best advantage, how to 

 approach each " point," even how to hunt for a dead or 

 wounded bird : all these and innumerable other questions 

 must be decided mainly by the Wind. There is no neutrality 

 in the attitude of Boreas, Zephyr and Co. : if not in your 

 favour, wind is the enemy's most powerful ally, the newspaper 

 open to all the wild, dictating to them their each day's habitat 

 and direction of flight and even their line of feeding. A 

 hill-face exposed overnight to a strong wind will not carry 

 anything like its proper stock of game next day : it is the 

 same with deer, or hares, or woodcocks. Obviously you 

 cannot work all day dead against the wind, unless your beat 

 is a long, narrow strip lying in the right direction ; 'and even 

 so, such a combination would be undesirable for various 

 reasons. A side wind is what you should generally scheme 



