72 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
ing. I have suffered much through the untimely 
blast of a horn, resulting on at least two occasions 
in the ruination of most promising drives just as 
the guns got to their places. Of course, if I could 
have seen the birds pass over where I knew the 
guns ought to have been, I should have stopped 
the beaters. As it was, I could not see ; and being 
well aware beforehand that I should not be able to 
see, I had made extra special arrangements that | 
should drive on immediately the horn sounded. 
There was plenty of corroborative evidence that 
the horn had sounded, and the only reason that | 
could think of to account for no sound of shots was 
that the birds had turned off. Naturally, the horn- 
blower blamed everybody but himself. 
There is nothing like really well-organized driving 
for showing what birds ground carries. It will show 
a surprising lot of birds on ground upon which 
those who do not know will tell you there are not 
any. I remember in the first season of my keeper- 
ship going over my ground on the afternoon pre- 
ceding the first day’s driving with one of the guns. 
He appeared dreadfully sceptical at the prospect 
of getting the forty-brace bag 1 hinted at. He 
declared that there could not be any birds, since 
one covey of nine was all we saw. We got forty- 
five and a half brace (half being killed by one 
gun), exclusive of a runner alleged to have been 
manufactured by a gun who got rid of a big 
