172 HINTS ON GROUSE DRIVING. 



poaching in his neighbour's preserves after dead 

 birds. I have usually noticed that one peg is of little 

 use for this purpose, especially as it is a jealous 

 loader or assistant who trespasses, and not often the 

 shooter, though I have seen shooters rush out of their 

 boxes before a drive was over to gather, each fearing 

 the other's purloining proclivities. I once had a very 

 useful retriever for such a purpose, as he used to 

 watch his chance, and sometimes steal away from the 

 row laid out at the next boxes, two birds at the same 

 time. He was considered a wonderful animal by both 

 my neighbours as well as myself till his " artful 

 dodge " was found out. If a boundary line is 

 required, two pegs should be used, so that a line can 

 be mentally drawn between them, if not a real line in 

 the form of a string, which is better still." 



I do not see that the fact of a bird running from 

 one square into another on the plan given in the 

 Field is a matter of very great moment. If a second 

 drive is to be attended to from the same butt, birds 

 coming in the opposite direction to the former, all 

 one has to do is to reverse the plan, when the former 

 front squares become the back, and vice versa, and 

 continue marking down birds as they fall, when at 

 the end you will still know approximately how many 

 birds should be recovered out of each square. 



The plan of a marker and a slate appears to be a 

 most excellent one, and, indeed, I should imagine 

 preferable to the one recommended by me, and 



