HINTS ON GROUSE DRIVING. 139 



cartridges that have during each drive been ex- 

 pended; and he does not waste many either, this 

 sportsman, therefore often have I wondered why he 

 should take so very much trouble for so little return. 

 An extra long peak, lined green, to his cap, which on 

 a sunny day he turns forward to checkmate old 

 friend Sol, and on wet ones to keep off the rain 

 from too plentifully bedewing his back, is another 

 somewhat uncommon trait appertaining to my 

 friend's impedimenta. Certain of my readers will 

 now surely be able to put a name to this model 

 grouse driver one of the keenest sportsmen and 

 best-informed authorities upon shooting in this or 

 any other " Arctic " island. 



These crosses and dots should be of immense 

 assistance to yourself, your loader, assistants, and 

 dogs when gathering up the fragments on the 

 approach of the beaters. It is not difficult to draw 

 four imaginary lines through and across your butt, 

 and you then know almost to a certainty how 

 many birds ought to be recovered from each of 

 the four quarters. Speaking of dogs, it is highly 

 desirable for each gun to be accompanied by two 

 clever retrievers and how rare they are and difficult 

 to procure ! one a slow dog, to wander close round 

 home, so that nothing be lost; the other a fast 

 traveller with an extremely sensitive nose, to take 

 the outside beat, and gather right up to the boundary, 

 if not sometimes a trifle beyond it. It is difficult. 



