FRANCOLIN AND FLIGHT SHOOTING 247 



E bought them from a man (shortly after the 



deal he left Johannesburg for Rhodesia) as being 

 thoroughly broken, and paid a long price for the team 

 of good-looking but worthless brutes. The dogs were, 

 therefore, sent back to camp under the care of one 

 of the boys. 



There were some six hundred morgen of this rough 

 cover, which in parts grew well above one's waist ; and we 



worked it in line, one gun (B ) walking on the left 



flank just outside the grass, which was almost square in 



formation ; E being the middle, and myself right-hand 



gun ; the other three men being sandwiched between. 

 We had not started forward many minutes when a hare 

 got up close to my feet and broke back past the line of 

 guns. But so dense was the cover in that particular 

 part that in a moment she was lost to view, and it 

 was not until Mistress Lepus gained the more open veldt 

 that I bowled her over with a dose of No. 5's. 



Next, a covey of six red wings (francolin) rose close to 



E , who scored a right and left to his credit. The 



remainder of the covey then flew left-handed, and S , 



who was next gun to E , muffed horribly with his first, 



but dropped a bird with his second barrel, which was 

 probably a " runner," for it was never gathered : and the 

 want of a good dog was now felt. 



The remaining leash of red wings " ran the gauntlet " 



of De V and B , both of whom loosed off a couple 



of barrels at them ; but the birds were practically out of 

 shot and got away to a quieter harbourage unscathed. 



