170 THE GROUSE 



The beaters, who can almost always 

 be induced to take quite a lively interest 

 in their work, when they know what is 

 expected of them, evince no signs of 

 intelligence, but move in a listless and 

 dejected fashion, with a marked tendency 

 to hang about the butts at the end of each 

 drive. Birds there may be, and very likely 

 are, but they are of the variety known 

 as "perverse," and never seem to come 

 near the guns in any appreciable numbers. 



The keeper who undertakes the duties 

 of flanker on such a day is a perfect eye- 

 sore to the initiated. He is probably 

 armed with a small pocket handkerchief 

 or a totally inadequate flag, but relies 

 chiefly on his undoubted lung power to 

 guide the birds in the right direction. 

 Having placed himself, in the first in- 

 stance, in a hopeless position almost in 

 line with the butts, he attempts to flank 

 in a lot of birds when they are practically 

 already past the guns. Finding, some- 

 what naturally, that no amount of shoo- 

 hooing, even when supplemented by the 



