PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING 223 



This is a capital way to outwit birds 

 late in the season, for though they would 

 not allow an ordinary line to get within 

 a quarter of a mile of them, they will 

 still lie like stones when once they feel 

 that they are surrounded. The 'half- 

 moon ' is also a very useful expedient to 

 fall back upon when a high wind makes 

 successful driving near impossible ; the 

 guns shoot all the better for being on 

 the move instead of shivering behind a 

 hedge, and every bird flushed will give 

 a sporting and difficult chance to some one 

 as it swings back with the wind. To 

 ' half-moon ' a large field the line first 

 deploys down the narrow end, covering 

 the whole width of it. When all are 

 in position, a signal is given from the 

 centre of the line, and the two flank guns 

 start walking down the outside fences, 

 followed at regular intervals of 10 yards 

 or so by each successive pair of beaters 

 or guns in turn, the centre gun moving 

 off last of all, when the half-circle is 

 complete. The birds that rise wild as 



