sport Forty Years Ago and To-day 2 1 



as he sits on his shooting seat. The arrangement of 

 the day has to be thought out, but the carrying of it 

 out is done by others — the drivers — and whether one 

 bird, or a hundred are put up, makes no difference to 

 them, after they have once started. Planning the " drive " 

 according to the wind, and the known flight of the birds, 

 placing the butts and the " flankers," requires very close 

 observation and skill on the part of the person organising 

 the " drive." When once settled, everything should go 

 on automatically, if the " drivers " know their business, 

 and no more planning is required to start the one bird 

 or the hundred birds on that beat. It is a mere matter 

 of chance then, as to how many happen to be there at 

 that particular time. Look how different is shooting 

 over dogs ! As soon as the covey is broken, each bird 

 gives occasion for thought and skill ; and human wits, 

 aided by the dog's keen scent and cleverness, are in each 

 case pitted against the bird's intelligence. Whether it 

 has run on, after it has been marked down, has to be 

 decided by the dog's nose, and he may have to " road " 

 it in turnings and doublings for 200, or 300 yards, 

 before he can at last " peg " it down. All that time 

 the shooter is following close behind, with every nerve 

 on the qid vive, for fear the bird should make a 

 successful double, and suddenly get up silently behind, 

 and escape out of shot. When this bird is accounted for, 

 dog and gun must hasten back and search for another, 

 until each one of the whole covey, of mayhap sixteen or 

 twenty birds, has been dealt with. Then, and not till 

 then, may the shooter go and look for a fresh covey. In 

 this way very little ground is disturbed in a day's shooting, 

 and if there are plenty of birds, with good covert, a manor 



