SnOOTIXG IX BUCKIXGIIAMSIimE 13 



their standing barley, and I have heard them say, that 

 if you do not remain there too long, the damage is but 

 trifling, as the crop is carefully gathered up after it has 

 been mown. In standing barley and beans, the great 

 difficulty is to make the birds rise, and if you only wing 

 them, you run a great risk of losing them without a good 

 retriever. The damage in walking through the latter 

 crop with your dogs is more serious than the former, 

 and I rarely obtained permission from the owner to fol- 

 low the birds when thus sheltered in the standing beans. 

 Some sportsmen are partial to shooting when the wind 

 is very high ; for myself, I had good reason for disliking 

 such boisterous weather, for I found I never could shoot 

 so well as when the weather was moderate, although 

 the birds sometimes lie very close when it blows hard. 

 Wlien they rise and direct their course with the wind, 

 like Paddy with a whisky bottle at his moTith, they 

 never know when to stop. In such boisterous weather, 

 I have remarked that the dogs are less steady, and not 

 so readily under command. If you are shooting with a 

 friend in a country much intersected with thick hedge- 

 rows, it is better to have a strong steady spaniel to flush 

 the birds, the sportsmen being on each side of the hedge. 

 If a bird is wounded, you stand a better chance of get- 

 ting him with a spaniel than with a pointer. When 

 birds are wild, and have been much shot at, I prefer 

 shooting with a brace of well-trained spaniels that 

 always hunt near you. The birds generally lie better 

 to them, for when the pointer stands they usually rise 

 immediately, and, if you do not happen to be near the 

 dog, of com'se out of shot. To shoot in this way with 

 spaniels, you must walk well, particularly if it should 

 be a hilly country. 



