40 The Partridge Family 



and not bad for you, indeed a regular dose of it 

 may prevent serious faults. As a general rule 

 birds found as described will flush when the guns 

 have approached within a few yards. As they go 

 up the dog should go down, and remain down 

 until ordered up. Most dogs are broken to drop 

 to wing and to shot, i.e. to go down upon their 

 bellies. This prevents any attempt at chasing 

 or other fool capers, and so far is a useful accom- 

 plishment. There are, however, objections to it. 

 A dog down flat cannot see what is going on, 

 and when his head is buried in thick and perhaps 

 dusty growth, he gets the least pure air at a time 

 when he needs the most. For these reasons the 

 writer's dogs are allowed to sit down instead of 

 dropping. In this position they get all the air they 

 need, they can see the kills, and, more important, 

 mark down whichever birds may be only wounded, 

 or unwounded birds that may have caught their 

 eye. Some dogs become very clever at marking 

 down, and this extra accomplishment frequently 

 proves extremely valuable. 



It is an unwritten law among sportsmen that 

 there should be no cross-firing. The man on the 

 left is supposed to shoot at birds going to the left, 

 or at those at the left of the bevy should it drive 

 straight away. The man on the right governs 

 himself accordingly, which prevents that annoy- 

 ing thing, two guns discharged at the same bird. 



