CHASING AND RACING 279 



and wading through knee-high heather, on a hot August 

 afternoon, may well miss, right and left, a brood of 

 grouse rising almost at his feet, even when he has a 

 firm stance ; but if he has one foot on a boulder and 

 the other in a moss hole, it is odds that he will do so ! 

 I would give such an one a hundred cartridges and bet 

 him two to one he would not bring home twenty-five 

 brace of grouse walked up ; though he might be 

 sure of producing the percentage at the butts. 



The same applies to partridge shooting. I con- 

 sider the driven partridge, coming down wind in full 

 flight, to offer the greatest test of skill which the gun 

 can be put to. I may say that this form of trial is one 

 which I have not shone at as consistently as I should 

 have desired. Sometimes I have performed almost 

 brilliantly, at others I have shown form which would 

 disgrace a neophyte. Self-confidence is the great 

 thing ! When the eye obeys the brain, and transmits 

 its message to the hand correctly, the gun is thrown up 

 at the proper alignment and a kill follows ; but let a 

 shooter miss unexpectedly, and then begin to wonder 

 why, and he is lost ; his confidence is gone, and he 

 begins mentally measuring distances and allowances. 

 He " pokes " at his birds, with the inevitable conse- 

 quence that he misses time after time. 



Partridge driving has its uses, especially late in the 

 season ; but it lacks the joy of setting out on a fine 

 September morning, to begin on an expansive field of 

 roots, with a brace of staunch pointers (which work in 



