WALKING UP 147 



that its whereabouts can be ascertained easily without 

 their aid. 



I must here be clear as to which class of shooter 

 I am addressing. In consulting with A. (to adopt 

 the symbol by which I designated him in a former 

 chapter), I have to deal with one who habitually 

 shoots on large estates, where partridges are plentiful, 

 where there is a strong staff of keepers, with beaters 

 at command, and where from three to six and even 

 seven guns will often be sent out to walk up partridges, 

 and the bag may be anything from fifty to two hundred 

 brace. 



In taking counsel with B., of whom we spoke 

 before, conditions are different. The manors over 

 which he shoots are small, likely enough they are 

 surrounded by small freeholds, or unpreserved ground, 

 marsh or common, keepers are few and poachers 

 from the neighbouring villages are many, and it be- 

 comes a question of five to twenty-five brace of birds 

 in the day. 



The former has the birds found and driven in for 

 him, and has then only to take his part like a gentle- 

 man and a sportsman in the day's proceedings. Even 

 this seems to tax some shooters beyond their powers, 

 and on this head I shall have a word or two to say 

 presently. The latter has to find his birds, manage 



L 2 



