HINTS ON GROUSE DRIVING. 143 



sportsman who has not already criticised this really 

 life-like oil painting to hie him quickly and do so. 

 It is taken from an actual scene in a drive upon 

 the Bromhead Moors. The prominent figures in 

 the nearest butt are portraits of two men quite in 

 the front rank in their respective lines : Mr. 

 Rimington Wilson and his head keeper Ward; and 

 as to its truth to nature, I can offer myself as a 

 disinterested witness, happening to have been in 

 a butt just in front of Mr. Wortley when he was 

 making the first sketches. The dead grouse and the 

 heather in this picture have always appeared to me 

 to be masterpieces. If inclined to be hypercritical, 

 some people might say that the arms of the shooter 

 appear a trifle too long, and that the cartridges 

 scattered about seem somewhat longer than they 

 should be ; but there I am no art critic, and it is 

 certainly a wonderful picture. Verb. sap. Go and 

 see it. 



But the big pack has flashed by, and smaller ones 

 and single birds continue to arrive in steady succes- 

 sion. Far easier to hit are these latter, and a god- 

 send to the unhappy man who has emptied all his 

 muskets fruitlessly into the bosom of one of these 

 enormous concourses. The greatest possible mistake 

 this browning, yet still sometimes they do it ; aye, 

 even the most experienced of driving shots cannot 

 at all times resist the temptation to essay the killing 

 of a brace or leash with one barrel. It very rarely 



