1 78 SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



Although the opposition . to driving mentioned 

 above is now out of date, there are still many people 

 to whom the mere making of a large bag appears to 

 constitute a source of irritation. I have never been 

 quite able to understand this frame of mind. There 

 is nothing to prevent such a man from making a small 

 bag if he wishes it, either on his own or his friend's 

 ground, and surely he might remember that those 

 who take part in these (to him) colossal days are, for 

 the most part, just as keen and accomplished sports- 

 men as himself. From the days of the great Hawker 

 until the present time, all the evidence tends to show 

 that when a man is once out with a gun he will in- 

 variably kill as much as he can. The man who will 

 come home early in the day for fear that he should 

 kill too much game is a person whom, at any rate, 

 I have never met, and in whose existence, I must 

 confess, I find it difficult to believe. But there is 

 one point of view on which I should probably agree 

 even with the unrelenting opponents of large bags. 

 I do not think it desirable for boys or youths to take 

 part in them until they have been properly trained to 

 the contest between themselves and the animal they 

 are pursuing, which constitutes the true definition of 

 sport. A boy who is learning to shoot may be taken 

 out grouse driving once in a way, but it is far better 



