214 DRIVING WILD BIRDS 



' Stoop ' of a falcon at an old cock grouse going at the 

 rate of a hundred and fifty miles an hour is certainly 

 worth the going a long way to witness. 



But to revert to what 1 was saying regarding driven 

 birds, where the use of dogs is not possible, it is nearly 

 always possible to organize a drive successfully if the 

 person who has the management of it understands his 

 business. 



Driving may be carried out in various ways. Some 

 people prefer the use of difTerent coloured flags, which 

 are carried by the beaters, who wave them in the air ; 

 others use only three flags, one for each flank and one 

 for the centre, and these are only made use of when 

 birds are inclined to fly back towards the line of 

 beaters and aw^ay from the ' heading' guns. 



The best sport which I have ever had at rocketing 

 birds was obtained by taking my place in the line of 

 beaters where a flag should have been. Guns placed 

 in the line of beaters cannot, on rough, hilly moors, 

 always see the entire line, and are sure every now and 

 again to get some high rocketing shots, because when 

 grouse fly back from the ' heading' guns, being unable 

 to change their flight quickly enough, they generally 

 rise on perceiving the line. Both grouse and black- 

 cock afford the very best sport in the way of rocketing 

 shots ; so also will partridges, if thus driven at the 

 end of the season, and far more difficult shots than 

 any ' heading' gun, carefully hidden, can obtain. The 

 guns who may thus accompany the beaters, and 

 those in the ' butts,' experience two totally different 

 styles of shooting. The former have the advantage of 

 the exercise and the very finest practice at rocketing 

 birds ; the latter, very often numbed with cold, even 



