HINTS ON GROUSE DRIVING. 129 



would now be an absolute drug in the market ; and 

 the race of breakers, as it is nowadays confined to 

 about half a dozen well-known families the Ansteys, 

 Armstrongs, Bishops, Brailsfords, Michies, and a 

 few others would most assuredly die out entirely. 

 No ; the retriever and the retrieving spaniel are the 

 dogs of the day, and have elbowed their rivals from 

 the field ; and any man, could he but break them 

 (which he cannot, for a retriever cannot be made 

 under a couple of seasons), would with ease dispose 

 of twenty "heel" dogs ere he was asked for one 

 " Hold up " one. Be this as it may and whether 

 for good or evil it is not my province to determine 

 there is no doubt that the art of driving grouse 

 and blackgame has been of late years brought to the 

 same pitch of perfection in Yorkshire, Lancashire, 

 Cumberland, and Westmoreland, as has the " manipu- 

 lation of partridges overhead " in the home counties 

 of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Suffolk ; and, 

 although a description of the arts and appliances 

 necessary to further a successful day's grouse driving 

 will come to most readers of The Field familiar as 

 household words, yet there will be many who have 

 not had the good fortune to be so favoured as I ; 

 and, from reminiscences of Swinton, Bromhead, 

 Wemmergill, and others, it will be mea maxima 

 culpa if I cannot recall a few items to interest or 

 instruct other sportsmen who may do me the honour 

 to scan these lines. 



K 



