WALKING UP 147 
that its whereabouts can be ascertained easily without 
their aid. 
I must here be clear as to which class of shooter 
I am addressing. In consulting with A. (to adopt 
the symbol by which I designated him in a former 
chapter), I have to deal with one who habitually 
shoots on large estates, where partridges are plentiful, 
where there is a strong staff of keepers, with beaters 
at command, and where from three to six and even 
seven guns will often be sent out to walk up partridges, 
and the bag may be anything from fifty to two hundred 
brace. 
In taking counsel with B., of whom we spoke 
before, conditions are different. The manors over 
which he shoots are small, likely enough they are 
surrounded by small freeholds, or unpreserved ground, 
marsh or common, keepers are few and poachers 
from the neighbouring villages are many, and it be- 
comes a question of five to twenty-five brace of birds 
in the day. 
The former has the birds found and driven in for 
him, and has then only to take his part like a gentle- 
man and a sportsman in the day’s proceedings. Even 
this seems to tax some shooters beyond their powers, 
and on this head I shall have a word or two to say 
presently. The latter has to find his birds, manage 
L2 
