METHODS OF SHOOTING THE RED GROUSE 239 



cases men to turn the grouse if they try to break out have to 

 be employed, and they are of no use unless they perfectly 

 understand what the grouse will do under every circumstance 

 that may arise. Some of these men are so clever that when 

 shooters in the butts are watching the operations and believe 

 the big pack has broken out, they suddenly see it turn and 

 head straight to them. Then the gunners recognise that the 

 "pointsman," if the simile is admissible, knows his business 

 better than they know it ; for it is clear from their anxiety that 

 they in a similar situation would have shown themselves too 

 soon, and that the flag-man has timed the occasion as accurately 

 as a railway pointsman switches a train on to another line of 

 metals. The short driving system may be exemplified by 

 Lord Walsingham's great performance, when he got 1070 grouse 

 to his own gun in the day in 20 short drives on a 2200 acre 

 moor. The long drive system may be exemplified by the first 

 drive in the day at Mr. Rimington Wilson's Broomhead moor, 

 where 6 drives in the day is the outside limit. 



There is a great deal of difference of opinion upon the 

 best form of grouse butt, and some difference upon the best 

 distances apart for them. But these are not abstract questions, 

 although in conversation and books they are treated as if they 

 were. Much depends upon the manner of driving. When the 

 birds are brought from a distance and concentrated, it is clear 

 that they cannot have got used to the sight of the butts on the 

 ground to which they are forced. On the other hand, in short 

 drives the birds are practically never off their own ground, and 

 consequently get used to the butts, however conspicuous they 

 are, and do not fear them. In this case nothing seems to be 

 better than the horseshoe-shaped butt built up of turfs with 

 heather growing on the top. Slight modifications of the 

 horseshoe formation are best made when the butts are used 

 alternately to shoot grouse driven from opposite directions. 

 It is then well that the entrance should be an over-lap of 

 one end. 



But where grouse are brought off their own ground, and are 

 not used to the sight of peat cutters and their temporary 



