t6o SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 



keepers are incapable of breaking or handling a dog, 

 you must try to give them an example of how it 

 should be done, and they will quickly see the advan- 

 tage of the knowledge, and try to acquire it for them- 

 selves. It is surely possible on any estate to reserve 

 outlying portions they need not be large which may 

 be devoted to the all-important department of break- 

 ing and training your dogs. 



Shooting must be done on this ground for the 

 benefit of the dogs and their trainers alone, but no 

 great amount of birds need be killed, and it strikes 

 me that to take part on off days in this wild shooting 

 and dog-breaking would be a pleasant change for any 

 owner or tenant of a good sporting property. More 

 than this, it would probably pay him, for his retrievers 

 would command high prices in the market, and the 

 numbers of birds retrieved from loss and lingering 

 death would go some way in value towards the expense 

 of the department. The dog-breaker, while training 

 his dogs, would bring up and train a boy apprentice, 

 who would, besides doing the dirty work of the kennel, 

 and looking after the dogs in his chief's necessary 

 absences, soon be capable of supplementing his efforts 

 in the field. 



You are walking, say, four guns in a line, and to 

 each gun there is a keeper and a retriever. As a rule, 



