8o SHOOTING AND SALMON FISHING 



closer to the scent, which must be stronger below the turnip 

 tops than above them ; and we have seen several well- 

 broken spaniels that would fairly beat any retriever at this, 

 the most difficult of all retrieving. Owing, however, to their 

 headstrong, excitable natures, spaniels are very hard to procure 

 perfectly trained. 



It is often hotly debated as to whether a driven grouse is 

 easier to kill than a driven partridge ; for our part we have 

 ever found the stubble bird far the easier to stop, for the very 

 good reason that they do not fly as fast as grouse do, as rising 

 nearer to the guns they have not time to get up full speed 

 ahead ; furthermore, as they approach the shooter they much 

 oftener show up against the sky, and any mark viewed in 

 such a light is always an easier one than if it be flying low, 

 against a background of the same colour as itself 



In partridge-driving, as in grouse-driving, numbers of shots 

 are missed from the shooter allowing them to get too close on 

 him, and if anyone will fire a few shots at a plate at fifteen 

 or twenty yards, he will be surprised to see what a very small 

 space the shot will cover, and how slight a margin is left for 

 him to "come and go on." 



As to " Frenchmen," they are not to be named in the same 

 day as presenting either the variety of shots or as flying nearly 

 as fast as grouse or English birds. They come to the guns 

 low and slow, often singly or in twos and threes, offering 

 the easiest of all driven shots ; many a laugh has been had 

 by those watching someone proudly knock over five or six in 

 succession, only to have the conceit utterly taken out of him 

 by several coveys of English birds coming nearly twice as fast 

 as the Frenchmen had done. There is no greater test of a 

 good shot than a few slow birds followed by some very fast 

 ones, and if all alike are cleanly stopped, the shooter may at 

 once be put down as "useful." A moderate shot, finding 

 himself in much better company, will often have his shooting 

 improved ; for the knowledge that his friends are better than 



