TYPES OF SHOOTERS 189 
found, so the dog is called for. When the 
dog finds that a bird has run, as is obvious to 
everyone but the shooter, and goes a few yards 
from the fall, it must be ordered back. By the 
time that the shooter has been convinced that 
his bird is not dead, it has gained such a start that 
to let the dog follow the trail would be to risk 
disturbing birds ahead. Thus many unfortunate 
partridges are lost. 
I wonder how many birds I have been assured 
were hit so hard that they could not have gone 
more than a few yards after topping a hedge? 
A bird in the keeper’s pocket is worth a good 
many that have topped a hedge. As the exaggera- 
tion of shooters is to birds that must have fallen 
over hedges, so is the juggling of keepers with 
birds already in their pockets. 
A shooter who was only an hour late came to 
me in great trouble, the barrels of his gun in one 
hand and the stock in the other. He told me he 
had been wrestling with his gun (which, by the 
way, had been borrowed for the occasion) since 
an early breakfast, in vain. It was a wonder, 
judging by the marks on the weapon, that it 
stood the force which had been brought to bear 
upon it. I was thankful it was not mine. The 
shooter merely had omitted to open the action. 
Another man complained that the top lever of his 
gun (which, I feel I ought to mention, had an 
