MORE DRIVING 223 



at a bird hurtling high through the air 

 towards you in a down-wind drive, and 

 find him right over your head before you 

 manage to pull trigger ; on the other 

 hand, you will be almost sure to shoot 

 too soon at grouse coming slowly up the 

 wind, which are the very birds you should 

 allow to come right up to the butt before 

 firing. 



Early in August a grouse going away 

 from you may be comfortably killed at 

 forty yards, but the same bird in October 

 would take as much shot to stop him at 

 thirty. 



The one thing you can and ought to 

 religiously avoid is firing absurdly long- 

 shots at birds going away. Chance 

 shots will kill birds at almost any range, 

 but the possibility of occasionally bring- 

 ing off a fluke in no way justifies a 

 deplorable and far too prevalent practice. 

 Even if you do kill a few birds at about 

 seventy yards, in accomplishing the 

 undesirable feat you will certainly wound 

 a far larger number, and setting all 



