138 SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



for the flank men, while the solitary red one will be 

 easily found in the centre of the line. 



Now, all these details are important, nay essential 

 to success in driving. But if they are neglected, or 

 obstinately combated by persons who have no know- 

 ledge or not sufficient keenness to wish to realise the 

 largest head of game that the ground is able to produce, 

 then their grouse driving will always remain an unsatis- 

 factory and haphazard performance, while every excuse 

 except the real one will be advanced to account for 

 the poor results achieved. 



To drive grouse unless they are driven properly 

 I may say scientifically is a waste of time, money, 

 energy, and temper ; and, as I have urged before, the 

 detailed advice and instruction of initiated and expe- 

 rienced authorities is far more necessary and useful to 

 those who are taking it up under adverse or new condi- 

 tions than to those who have studied it under more usual 

 or favourable circumstances. Your horseshoe forma- 

 tion, your good flanking and carefully placed butts, are 

 far more necessary on a wild Scotch beat than on a flat 

 and easily driven Yorkshire moor. Yet it is frequently 

 made to appear as if all these things were considered 

 immaterial by those who ought to study them most 

 carefully, and would profit most by them. 



Now suppose the wind to be blowing directly 



