IN EPIEUS 153 



were no bigger than our Indian friend, but seemed 

 more yellow. " Vixen '^ followed the line a long way, 

 and when we got her back we proceeded to beats five 

 and six over ground the same as on the first day, 

 but both were blank, save of woodcock. 



Next day's dawn saw us under way for Corfu, 

 unanimously agreed that we had had the worst of luck, 

 but congratulating ourselves at having, at least, no 

 discreditable misses to own to. I, for my part, was 

 also more than ever of the opinion that driving game 

 of any size is a very poor sport. 



Now at the risk of being told that every fool is 

 born a critic, may I be allowed to point out what 

 I believe to be the real reason we failed, and why 

 every one is likely to fail who goes to Albania for boar- 

 shooting, and puts himself unreservedly in the hands 

 of the natives ? Firstly, it is almost unnecessary to 

 say (as I have several times said it in print before) 

 that with the sole exception of the wolf, the boar is 

 the most difficult of animals to drive, and yet there 

 is hardly any other method of bringing him to gun 

 The best of all, the baying a boar with a dachshund 

 and creeping in for a shot, however successful in 

 German forests, would not ever succeed in Albanian 

 thickets, although that development of it, where one 

 sportsman posts himself on the opposite side to that 

 on which another tries to steal in, possibly might. 

 Given, then, that in Albania driving is a necessity, 

 how should it be conducted ? First, and perhaps 

 most important of all, the greatest attention should 

 be paid to the wind in posting the guns. Secondly, 

 there should be no admixture of dogs and men ; the 

 former, perhaps, running a hare or fox half a mile 

 ahead, and thereby actually turning back pig that 



