130 SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



tiny specks afar off, and as they grow bigger to the 

 eye to watch every detail of their long flight, speculating 

 as to whether they will come to you or your neigh- 

 bour, yet this is not the most killing condition. You 

 will always observe that more birds are realised when 

 everyone remarks that ' I couldn't see them till they 

 were right on me,' than when they could watch them 

 coming the whole way. Just room enough in front to 

 be ready, select your bird, and get the gun up is all 

 you want, and for this eighty yards from the butt to 

 the ridge is amply sufficient. 



Then each butt must if possible be placed, though 

 always adhering to the straight line, so as to command 

 what I must describe as a pass that is, a hollow or 

 comparatively flat space. I have seen on a sharply 

 undulating ridge each one placed on the top of the 

 knoll, with the passes or valleys between. The result 

 of this is that the birds swerve a great deal, and some- 

 times turn back, while the shots at birds bel<nv the 

 gun as they pass through the- hollows are about the 

 most difficult you can have. When placed in the 

 hollows it will often be impossible to see your next- 

 door neighbour, but in this case you have only to be 

 careful that when your line of butts is made, a big 

 stone, stake, or cairn is put up on the knoll in the 

 exact line between the two butts. 



