UPLAND SHOOTING. 261 



this very reason it is the prettiest and most exciting sport in the 

 world ; tliat you can never even form a conjecture what is going 

 to [xvA up Ill-ton; you, until you see it on the wing. Now, my 

 good iVieud Rustii'us, will you take yourseli' and the Spaniels 

 to the t;ill oak tree; on the brow of the hill yonder, and do your 

 i»e.st to mark down every bevy we flush, to a yard. When we 

 rejoin you, we will couple up the Setters, and beat the swales 

 and thickets with the little duga. Now, hold u\), lads ! look 

 sharp, Ai,nlis, they are drawing already. There has been a 

 bevy ruiuiing here since the sun was up. See how gingerly 

 they crawl over the tainted grass. Now they are standing 

 both of them. Is not that a picture ?" 



And they stepped up to the dogs, which held their point as 

 stiff and staunch as if they had been cast in bronze, or carved 

 in marble. 



" Hold ! Agilis ! Don't liead them, my dear fellow. I want 

 to let them go, if they will, into those sprouts on the hill side. 

 They are close under the red dog's nose. There ! they are up ! 

 Steady !" 



Bang ! bang ! 



" Bravo ! a brace, Agilis ! very neatly done, I assure you ; 

 you let them go far enough then, yet not too far, before firing. 

 You never killed a Quail before, hey V 



" Never on this side the water, Peritus. In France and Spain 

 I have shot a good many." 



" A different bird altogether, though of the same order. Not 

 half so bold, or strong, or swift on the wing:, as this, which some 

 writers call the American Partridge." 



" Is it a Partridge or a Quail, Peiitus, after all ?" 



" Neither one nor the other, Agilis, an intermediate link be- 

 tween the two, but approximating nearer to the Quail. See, 

 the red dog has retrieved one — good dog, Sancho ! A pretty bird, 

 is it not ?" 



" Very. But what did you do ? I was busy trying to mark 

 the bevy, and did not see your shots." 



" Oh ! I killed two, of course. It was quite open. Did you 

 mark them ?" 



