134 FINISHING LESSONS 



themselves, must face the dog ; and it is for want of 

 cunning to do this that young birds are so often 

 caught in hedges, to the great delight of ammu- 

 nition savers and pot-hunters. In the latter case, 

 keep with your dogs, and send round your man to 

 poke the hedge with a stick. 



If your object is to get a great deal of game on 

 the same beat, provided you have it to yourself, do 

 not go out above three days in a week. By so doing 

 you will kill at least twice as much as by following 

 the birds without intermission. Many people, who 

 wish to secure all the partridges they can during the 

 month of September, make a point of shooting every 

 day, and are quite disconcerted if they lose even half 

 a day's sport. All this is natural enough in keen 

 young sportsmen, and very well, provided they have 

 fresh dogs and fresh ground to beat, but under other 

 circumstances they would stand no chance with a 

 man who went out three times a week ; because his 

 birds, having intervening days to be left quiet, would 

 lie so much better, that he, towards the end of the 

 month, would continue to fill his bag, while another 

 would have so driven and harassed his coveys, that 

 he would scarcely be able to get a fair single, much 

 less a double shot. (I name this, and indeed all I 

 have asserted, not as a mere opinion, but as the result 

 of decided proofs, that I have witnessed no small 

 number of times.) 



In boisterous weather, contrive, as much as you 

 can, to sport on the windward part of your beat, or 



