KEEPERS AND KEEPERING 395 







have been so carefully prepared beforehand that on the day His power 

 itself every part of the complicated organisation falls into its 

 proper place at the proper time. 1 



To the master of the art the wind is always in the " airt " 

 from which the birds can be most easily manoeuvred. Flankers 

 appear by magic in the gully down which, for the first time in 

 the memory of man, the birds have begun to break away. 

 There is an order and bustle about events which acts like magic 

 on the most dilettante breakfast-eater, which pushes on the 

 most grasping of the guns from the " pick up " to the next 

 row of butts, and which even stimulates the gentleman's gentle- 

 man to take that extra bag of ammunition which is to help to 

 create the record day. 



While the work is proceeding there is no bellowing of for- 

 gotten instructions, no downward drives in which startled 

 coveys and volleys of objurgations hurtle past alternately on 

 a full autumn gale. Drive succeeds drive in orderly sequence. 

 The flickering of a parti-coloured flag, quickly seen and answered 

 by the flankers, is all that betokens the master mind. The 

 birds rise, swing round to the downwind flankers, a sudden 

 display of colour, and in a moment they are over the centre of 

 the line. Little escapes the observation of such a man ; even 

 the expert in excuses modifies his usual explanations, the most 

 hardened cartridge burier ceases for a while from his miry 

 operations below his butt. 



It is not necessary to dwell on the companion picture. The 

 head-keeper who on the day of the shoot prepares to visit the 

 moor for the first time, the shouting and noise which is supposed 

 to make up for the laziness of eleven long months, the beating 

 of dogs, the coursing of hares, the loud echoes which perplex 

 the under-men and frighten the game, all proclaim inefficiency 

 and generally promise bad, certainly unenjoyable, sport. So 



1 While making due allowance for the high standard of intelligence required for the 

 successful driving of Grouse it is remarkable how many gamekeepers are not naturally 

 gifted with this particular form of genius. In nearly every case where a gamekeeper is 

 a master of Grouse-driving his efficiency may be traced to the careful training he has 

 received at the hands of an employer who has himself thoroughly studied the subject. 



