178 LETTERS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



for, zig-zagging at right angles to its direction, i.e., across it, 

 so as to cover a fresh strip at each time, wide or narrow accord- 

 ing to whether scent is good or bad. The ground is to be 

 covered, or " made good/' not by your legs but by the dog's 

 nose : the success of the operation will depend, ultimately, 

 on the cumulative effects ; try, therefore, to fill your new 

 ground continually with birds from the old, instead of losing 

 the latter for the day after each flush. In a really high wind 

 choose a low beat, or keep off the hill altogether : dogs are 

 nonplussed and birds blown any whither. When, as must 

 happen sooner or later, a down-wind beat is necessary, try, 

 if you have any choice in the matter, to leave the roughest 

 ground for this manoeuvre : the broken tops if possible. 

 Here you need not enlarge even your down-wind specialist 

 already referred to, especially if you know the ground — for 

 certain haunts never fail in certain winds — and if the wind 

 be fairly strong, compelling the birds to lie under shelter 

 of the little faces and hummocks where you can come on top 

 of them unseen. 



You will want a retrieving dog of some description 

 for point-shooting rather than use one of your team 

 for the purpose (which is apt to encourage an undue fondness 

 for the foot-scent : it is runners which take most finding) . Look 

 out for a quiet, unobtrusive but observant dog, who should 

 " drop " almost automatically behind a point till waved on. 



