168 HINTS ON GROUSE DRIVING. 



head over claws, till he reaches the stony bottom of 

 the ravine, whence your retriever eventually extracts 

 him, pretty well prepared for potting, and of no 

 account from the game dealer's point of view. 



The batteries should not be placed further than 

 eighty yards apart, sixty is better, and in as true i.e. 

 straight a line with each other as possible. It may 

 be objected to this piece of advice that if you get 

 shot at sixty yards by your neighbour, it is worse than 

 catching it at a hundred. Quite so ; but the answer 

 is obvious no dangerous man ought to be invited to 

 drive grouse ; and, with careful shots and experienced 

 sportsmen, the knowledge that the next butt is pretty 

 close will only render the guns more careful, and 

 besides, cabin next butt in the line of fire is more con- 

 stantly before their vision, and in reality safer. If the 

 butts are placed wide apart, the birds seem instinctively 

 to find out the fact, as they will also infallibly discover 

 any battery that has been left unmanned, and shape 

 their course accordingly. 



Butts should always, if possible, be placed about 

 forty yards behind the ridges of the hills, so that the 

 grouse be not aware of their danger, and unable to 

 see the smoke from the guns, until retreat is impos- 

 sible ; and, where one battery is but indistinctly seen 

 from the next in line, to avoid all possibilities of 

 mishap, it is very desirable to erect a traversing butt 

 of turf, at right angles to the offending batteries, 

 which effectually does away with any chance of the 



