104 SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



date, was a satisfactory performance. There is nothing 

 in it, perhaps, even worth recording ; yet the fact re- 

 mains that it is graven on my memory as a red-letter 

 day, and ranks in my reminiscences of varieties of 

 shooting with some of the best days of driving in 

 which I have ever taken part. 



Shooting as practised in England is, on the whole, 

 less selfish than most other forms of sport, yet it is 

 also tinged with a proportion of the vice. I may, there- 

 fore, be forgiven for saying that I think grouse shoot 

 ing over dogs is eminently a sport which is best 

 enjoyed alone that is, by one gun only. It is true 

 that the party of two is the more correct form, granted 

 that the pair work together absolutely without jealousy, 

 and with exact knowledge of one another's powers. 

 But these conditions are rare, and it is not too much 

 to say that in no branch of shooting are greater 

 sacrifices of result made to the essential qualities of 

 courtesy and consideration for the capacity of your 

 companion. If two guns can kill forty brace over 

 dogs, you may be quite certain that the better of the 

 two could have killed thirty brace, if not more, over 

 the same ground on the same day. A good hand at 

 the work can, if he chooses to set aside the unwritten 

 laws of politeness and fair play, take so much advan- 

 tage of an inferior hand as to practically absorb all 



