112 SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



your disappointed ears when you come upon a bit of 

 sheltered lying where the dog has been ranging for a 

 moment or two out of sight. Unless, therefore, your 

 dog is absolutely to be relied on to stand steady, you 

 must, however much it may try your legs and wind, 

 continually keep him in sight. This is frequently left 

 to the keeper by the deliberate or indolent shooter. 

 The dog disappears over a ridge, the keeper, becom- 

 ing uneasy, runs swiftly and looks over, sees the dog 

 drawing on birds, and immediately up goes the hand, 

 and ' Ho ! ' he shouts. But the movements of the 

 dog, the man's appearance on the skyline, and the 

 shout are too much, and they are off. If you can 

 get to the ridge and be down alongside the dog quickly 

 enough the instant you see he has birds, you will very 

 likely get your brace, where the slow man would have 

 got nothing and never even seen the covey. On the 

 other hand, especially in broken ground and deep 

 heather, you cannot be too deliberate in quitting the 

 ground where you have found close-sitting birds, or 

 you may leave more than one easy certainty at a fine 

 young bird from want of hunting carefully enough all 

 round. 



Some men seem to have almost as keen an instinct 

 as to whether there are birds near them as the dog, 

 and this can hardly be acquired, though close watch- 



