208 SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



probably, after his attention has become riveted on a 

 succession of approaching birds, begin instinctively to 

 face the front wall of his butt. Being so used to 

 finding his neighbours placed at right angles to the 

 side walls of his butt, and on the same line as the 

 front, that danger in this quarter has become a matter 

 of instinct rather than observation, his brain will 

 imagine them to be located on the line DD. This 

 delusion may only last a moment or two while he is 

 watching birds ; but it may lead him to shoot at a 

 bird at the point F, and so seriously damage the 

 man in the butt c, or on the other side to take a 

 shot at the point G, imagining the bird to have passed 

 the line, and so to injure the man in the butt A. 



I have no evidence to prove that accidents have 

 occurred from this cause, but they have occurred at 

 drives where I have seen butts placed in this manner, 

 and I have myself been so near shooting my neighbour 

 under these circumstances that it cannot be wrong to 

 point out the possible danger. 



Let there be always plenty of butts on the moor, 

 that you may be able to drive according to the wind. 

 If in any drive you notice that two or three of the 

 guns invariably get all the shooting, it is better to 

 put two or possibly three in a second line behind 

 them, being careful they are full}- 200 yards off, any 



