174 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



interferes with the shots that fall to his com- 

 panion, or bangs both barrels not at selected 

 birds, nor in reality at the covey, but rather at 

 the whir of their short wings as they rise before 

 the dogs, is equally unfortunate with the man 

 who publicly commits some egregious breach of 

 the formula of common politeness. If, however, 

 as is often the case, the shooter finds himself 

 unable to control his nervousness at the critical 

 moment when the dogs are on a point, we advise 

 him to hunt a season or two with an experienced 

 sportsman, when, by observing his motions, 

 and listening to his directions in the field, he 

 will gradually get the better of his own undue 

 excitement, and kill his birds in style. We 

 have known several individuals of excitable 

 temperaments, who have been cured in this 

 way, and now shoot right and left quite as well 

 as their ci-devant tutors. A vast deal of the 

 interest which attaches itself to partridge shoot- 

 ing, depends upon the manner in which it is 

 pursued, and there is no sport which admits of 

 more system in its practice. If your dogs are 

 excellent, and your companion one whose tem- 

 per and habits in the field chime well with your 

 own, you will say, perhaps, that it is the most 

 delightful of sports. Like other varieties of 



