140 FINISHING LESSONS 



call to you ; and when you are ready for him to beat 

 the hedge, give a whistle, because a bird, being less 

 alarmed at a whistle than a man's voice, will most likely 

 come out on your side. Some people heigh the dogs in. 

 This, I need not tell a sportsman, is the way to spoil 

 them, and to prevent them from being stanch on such 

 occasions. It sometimes happens, that there is a close 

 twisted hedge on the opposite side, so that the birds, 

 in order to extricate themselves, must face the dog ; and 

 it is for want of cunning to do this that young birds 

 are so often caught in hedges, to the great delight of 

 ammunition-savers and pot-hunters. In the latter case, 

 keep with your dogs, and send round your man to poke 

 the hedge with a stick. 



If your object is to get a great deal of game on the 

 same beat, provided you have it to yourself, do not go 

 out above three days in a week. By so doing you will 

 kill at least twice as much as by following the birds 

 without intermission. Many people, who wish to se- 

 cure all the partridges they can during the month of 

 September, make a point of shooting every day, and 

 are quite disconcerted if they lose even half a day's sport. 

 All this is natural enough in keen young sportsmen, 

 and very well, provided they have fresh dogs and fresh 

 ground to beat, but under other circumstances they 

 would stand no chance with a man who went out three 

 times a week; because his birds, having intervening 

 days to be left quiet, would lie so much better, that he, 

 towards the end of the month, would continue to fill 

 his bag, while another would have so driven and harassed 

 his coveys, that he would scarcely be able to get a fair 

 single, much less a double shot. (I name this, arid 



