WALKING UP 161 
if one dog out of the four is any use you may be thank- 
ful, and in case of difficulty this one and his master 
have to be summoned, often from the opposite end 
of the line, to help out the hopeless efforts of one of 
the others. I firmly believe that one man thoroughly 
up to his work, handling a couple of perfectly trained 
retrievers, and with another couple in reserve for the 
time when these are tired, would attend upon a line 
of even six guns with more success than the divided 
and incapable efforts one is usually dependent upon. 
For this purpose the system advocated by Payne- 
Gallwey, in his ‘ Letters to Young Shooters,’ of giving 
the beaters light sticks or wands, and obliging them 
to plant one in the ground at the spot where a bird 
has fallen, should be adopted. 
This brings me to one of the most important and 
difficult points in walking partridges, the picking up 
in thick cover. It is simple enough when there is 
only one bird, or perhaps two, down, and both are 
stone dead. It is when birds are rising thick and 
fast, seven or eight are dropped in front of the 
different guns, one or two more behind, and of 
these, say, two are evident runners—that the trouble 
begins. If this takes place at the end of the field 
there is less difficulty ; but when it is in the middle 
of the field, there are more fresh birds in front 
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