204 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



for nothing in my eyes is more beautiful than 

 to see a pair of well-trained pointers or setters 

 ranging a moor obedient to the least gesture 

 or motion of a silent keeper. I would as soon 

 see horses altogether displaced by puffing and 

 smelling automobiles, as lose my opportunity of 

 watching those beautiful examples of instinct 

 and training; but it is not necessary to shut 

 one's eye to certain obvious advantages of driv- 

 ing, or to declaim against "arm-chair" sports- 

 men. It is idle to deny that a driven grouse 

 presents a much more difficult mark for the gun 

 than a bird rising just when you expect him 

 in the very spot indicated by a point. The 

 "proof of the pudding is in the eating," and 

 numbers of men can secure a good bag walking 

 who can hardly kill one bird out of twenty 

 streaming over their heads. It is a real treat 

 to see a first-rate workman crumple up his 

 birds, but it requires long training as well as 

 a quick hand and eye before two guns can be 

 so handled as to enable the owner to secure 

 three or four birds out of a pack. Again, 

 driving is a more sociable form of sport than 

 its rival, and the same ground will provide amuse- 

 ment for a large party. But I love variety ; and 

 the ideal moor to my thinking is one where the 

 birds sit well to dogs early in the season, and 

 the drivers get their turn later on. 



For a detailed and scientific description of 



