122 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 
tained, the fence where ‘we had such a fine drive 
last year’ yields but little, and the whole day is a 
succession of disappointments. Why? Because the 
wind is entirely different, and has not been taken into 
consideration. 
Nothing can be better than the remarks and 
instructions on partridge-driving and wind in Payne- 
Gallwey’s ‘Letters to Young Shooters,’ p. 239. I 
can add but little to them, but further urge both 
hosts and keepers to study the wind, and to lay 
out for the following day alternative plans for drives 
which can be adopted or not according to its direction. 
Begin at the top of the wind and drive down ; your 
up-wind drives which come after will then contribute 
the heaviest part of your bag. And in driving across 
the wind, the most difficult of all, remember that 
every driver on the up-wind side represents in value 
six men on the down-wind side. Let the down-wind 
flank of your drive be most numerously protected and 
by your most active drivers, and, if you are not draw- 
ing lots for places, by your best guns. On this side 
nothing but the deadly tube in the hands of a very 
good shot will stop a partridge when in the swing cf 
his flight. He can only be guided to the front or 
centre by what he hears before rising, or sees the 
instant he gets off the ground. The flankers on the 
