BEATING BUSHES TO GUN 223 



be, if the beater succeeded in drawing its attention 

 away from the gun, a successful flush was generally 

 obtained. 



It is therefore a great advantage when shooting a 

 strange covert to secure the services of a beater who 

 knows all the likely haunts; but If this is not prac- 

 ticable, and the sportsman Intends to remain in the 

 neighbourhood for some days, and has the opportunity 

 of so doing, he should get a man to beat for him, 

 while he himself mounts to some rising ground, or 

 secures some position whence he can watch and mark 

 the flight of every cock which Is flushed ; then on the 

 following day, if the weather still continues frosty, and 

 he can secure the services of the same beater, he can 

 beat the wood in precisely the same way; but he must 

 remember to follow out the same routine as exactly 

 as possible ; for if the beater chance to beat the bushes 

 the reverse way to that which he did previously, the 

 birds will not take the same line as before. 



I have experienced some very good sport by 

 managing as above, with the assistance of another 

 gun, in which case one of us went on well ahead of 

 the other some two hundred yards ; so that If there 

 happened to be more birds than usual in the wood, or 

 any of them were wild or lighted again far on, the head- 

 o^un was able to secure the forward shots, while the 

 back gun worked all the springs quietly up to him, 

 and the heading gun could also mark those birds 

 which left the wooti. 



In coverts where there was a superabundance of 

 thick gorse or tangled briars, we generally used 

 retrieving cockers and a steady well-trained pointer, 

 the latter also taught to retrieve. When cock rise in 



