ENGLISH DRIVING 191 



Now here come three, one a little ahead of the 

 other two and straight to you, the others abreast and 

 a trifle to your left. Take the leader first, shooting 

 rather soon, at what looks like forty yards, and with 

 particular accuracy ; change guns quickly without 

 firing the second barrel, and kill the other two with 

 your second gun, one by sharp work just in front and 

 the other an easy one behind. Good, you have got 

 all three ; and no doubt you see the advantage of 

 this manoeuvre. Had you stuck to your first gun 

 after killing the first, you would have had to pause a 

 little to get the next with your second barrel, and while 

 you were changing guns the third bird would have got 

 so far that you would almost certainly have lost him. 



Now the holloaing of the drivers sounds quite near, 

 and in fact, though you cannot yet see them, for they 

 are still climbing out of the gully and under the fall 

 of the ground in front of you, they are probably 

 not more than 150 yards off, a distance at which you 

 may easily blind a man. You must now only shoot at 

 birds a moderate height up in the air, or low to your 

 right against the ridge, or behind. What remain are 

 coming singly and easier, but look out for a small 

 burst off the ridge, for remember we saw a good many 

 settle there from time to time. There they come, 

 but they won't quite face it, and hang back, giving 



