334 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



you will find it a difficult job to make them fly up 

 it again ; in fact, an almost impossible one if they 

 have to encounter the wind to do so. 



The best action to take under these circumstances 

 is to drive the birds down the slope and over the guns 

 en route to more level ground, and then drive them 

 across the latter over a second range of shelters placed 

 to intercept the course they will naturally prefer to 

 take, rather than mount the slope again. 



When working a level tract of moor to and fro in 

 double drives to shelters placed across its length, 

 there is nothing like driving as large a number of 

 birds, or as long an extent of heather, that is to say, 

 u'iih the wind for JOUT first drive, as you can. With 

 the assistance of a fair wind grouse require little 

 persuasion to make them pass over the guns, there is 

 seldom any risk of their breaking out of the drive, 

 and their flight can be directed with tolerable ease 

 toward some part of the ground from which they may 

 without difficulty be driven back to the guns. 



For these reasons, as previously pointed out, the 

 longest drives should be laid out from the south-west 

 (our prevailing wind), and the shorter or return drives 

 from the reverse direction. 



Grouse will not fly far against the wind without 

 alighting, so that all drives taken upwind should be 

 comparatively short, in order that the birds may be 



