122 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 



tained, the fence where 'we had such a fine drive 

 last year" yields but little, and the whole day is a 

 succession of disappointments. Why ? Because the 

 wind is entirely different, and has not been taken into 

 consideration. 



Nothing can be better than the remarks and 

 instructions on partridge-driving and wind in Payne- 

 Gallwey's ' Letters to Young Shooters,' p. 239. I 

 can add but little to them, but further urge both 

 hosts and keepers to study the wind, and to lay 

 out for the following day alternative plans for drives 

 which can be adopted or not according to its direction. 

 Begin at the top of the wind and drive down ; your 

 up-wind drives which come after will then contribute 

 the heaviest part of your bag. And in driving across 

 the wind, the most difficult of all, remember that 

 every driver on the up-wind side represents in value 

 six men on the down-wind side. Let the down-wind 

 flank of your drive be most numerously protected and 

 by your most active drivers, and, if you are not draw- 

 ing lots for places, by your best guns. On this side 

 nothing but the deadly tube in the hands of a very 

 good shot will stop a partridge when in the swing of 

 his flight. He can only be guided to the front or 

 centre by what he hears before rising, or sees the 

 instant he gets off the ground. The flankers on the 



