GROUSE-DRIVING 203 



them with outstretched necks and uplifted heads, 

 are almost certain to penetrate the secret of 

 the most skilful ambush, and to face the waving 

 flags and demonstrative gestures of beaters and 

 flankers in preference to the hidden danger indi- 

 cated by the glint of a barrel or the motion of 

 a hand. What originated in necessity has been 

 continued from choice, and from its own inhe- 

 rent advantages. Wherever driving has been 

 adopted, grouse have increased in numbers and 

 in health, as the old cocks have found their tac- 

 tics of getting off in advance of their juvenile 

 relations resulted in their drawing the first fire 

 instead of escaping altogether. Gradually the 

 practice spread, and the inveterate conservatism 

 of keepers has at length, and with difficulty, 

 been induced to tolerate, and eventually en- 

 courage, driving with the best results, in places 

 where for years they asserted that it was im- 

 possible and absurd to attempt it. 



I do not wish to embark upon the well-worn 

 controversy, earned on not so much between 

 the actual votaries of driving and shooting over 

 dogs, as between certain writers masquerading 

 in their names, whose works usually betray an 

 equal ignorance of both methods. My tastes 

 are catholic in such matters, and it does not 

 seem necessary to exalt one sport by disparag- 

 ing another. I should be very sorry to see 

 shooting over dogs altogether done away with, 



