438 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



grounds to the decoys you have placed on the selected 

 tree, or you can have them driven in to your gun. 

 The former plan is often the most killing one, for it 

 alarms the birds least, as when they fly in naturally 

 they come in small numbers or as single birds, and 

 only a few are frightened at a time ; and, as many 

 are killed, these, at all events, cannot carry back to 

 the fields news of the danger incurred by resorting to 

 the decoys. 



If, however, the pigeons are in large numbers, and 

 you are afraid they may leave the neighbourhood 

 before you have the chance of thinning their ranks, 

 you can try driving them. But this drrving of the 

 pigeons requires some care, for, if driven too much, 

 you will drive them away altogether. I have seen a 

 man on horseback utilised for this purpose, and I 

 have seen keepers sent to parade the fields to frighten 

 up every pigeon as it settled to feed, and every flock 

 that had settled. Such a plan of action is too risky, 

 and is one that will, if persevered in, surely send the 

 birds to far-off grounds where they are not molested, 

 and may even have this effect before half the day is 

 over ; for, though the pigeons will probably visit their 

 favourite tree when driven wholesale off the fields, 

 they will come in crowds ; you can then but drop a 

 couple, and their alarmed companions may bid you 

 a long ' addio.' The great object in woodpigeon 

 shooting is to obtain shots at single birds, or at twos 

 and threes the sport then lasts. 



