UPLAND SHOOTING. 159 



to bag' ; for, without some such understanding, both charges 

 will constantly be delivered into one bird, while others are going 

 away unshot at. 



It is a most uncourteous and clownish fashion, that of shoot- 

 ing across a companion'sface, if committed from ignorance only, 

 or carelessness, — if done from jealousy, and a grasping desire 

 of making a larger bag, it is unpardonable and ungentleman- 

 like. A fellow who would do it, should be sent at once, nem. 

 con., to Coventry. 



The genuine sportsmen will always give, rather than take ; 

 and, even in the case of single birds flying forward in a direct 

 line before two guns, the shot sliould always be yielded, espe- 

 cially by the person who hunts the dogs, and who may be in 

 some sort regarded as at Jiome, and therefore bound to do the 

 honors to his comrade. 



Where two persons shoot much together, it is well to take 

 such shots alternately ; and there is another advantage gained 

 by this, as there is by the practice of all punctilios in sporting, 

 that it tends to promote equanimity and coolness, without which 

 nothing great can be effected in this line. 



So long as the weather holds fair, and the birds lie well to 

 the dog, there remains, T believe, no more to be said on the 

 subject. But it must be obsei-ved, that in wild, windy weather, 

 early in the season, if we know that there are birds on the range, 

 that they have been killed on the meadows in numbers, and for 

 successive days, and that there have been no heavy frosts to ba- 

 nish them from the district, they will be found, as I have before 

 hinted, in haunts altogether different from their usual feeding 

 ground. So soon, therefore, as it is evident that they are not to 

 be found at all, or in anything Hke adequate numbers, on the 

 meadows, it is advisable to turn your attention instantly to the 

 skirts of the nearest woodlands, under sheltered leesides of 

 young plantations, among willow, alder, and briar brakes, and, 

 in short, wherever there is good soft springy feeding ground, 

 perfectly sheltered, and protected from the wind by trees or 

 shrubbery. 



