SCOTCH DRIVING 135 



to move until it is practically inclosed in a great half- 

 circle, they drop carelessly, after going just a quarter 

 of a mile short of where they should have gone to, 

 into some sort of line, and then all come straight on, 

 the centre often farther ahead than the flanks (!) and 

 the birds, of course, pouring out on each side. It is 

 a matter of luck that any birds come to the guns at 

 all, a very poor bag is made, and then it is voted that 

 driving doesn't really answer, and that you mustn't 

 expect what they get in Yorkshire, &c. 



This can only be remedied, to my thinking, by 

 the command of the drive being taken by some person 

 who understands it, whether the host, or anyone else 

 whom he may import to instruct the keepers and 

 beaters. His authority must be absolute, and they 

 must be brought to understand that successful driving 

 is entirely a matter of discipline and organisation. 

 The most excellent instruction as to drivers, forma- 

 tion, flags, &c., has been set out in the Badminton 

 Library, and in Payne-Gallwey's ' Letters to Young 

 Shooters ; ' but when do you ever find it acted upon ? 



On the best known Yorkshire moors, where the 

 system has been brought to perfection, all this instruc- 

 tion is superfluous ; but why is it that in Scotland, 

 where it is so much needed, you never find it followed 

 out? The average owner or tenant buys these books, 



