THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
still and not foul the scent. Should any still be lost, after a fairly long 
search, it will assist matters greatly if one keeper with a steady retriever, 
or still better a brace, be left behind to hunt the ground thoroughly, 
whilst the remainder of the party continue their advance. Many an old 
keeper who is practically past his work for night watching and the heavier 
duties, is invaluable if employed in this way. 
It is always advisable to walk slow through covert of any sort, and to 
remember that the most likely spot for birds to surprise you is when 
close to the hedge at the end of a field, especially if you have been obliged 
to walk down the drills. Where fields are very 
large and the party consists of six or seven 
guns and a good many keepers and beaters, 
half -mooning is sometimes resorted to. 
But this is an operation which must be 
carried out with great accuracy ; and if there 
is an excitable gun in the party, it is perhaps 
wiser not to try it. 
Supposing a field of roots has been filled 
with birds, if approached in the ordinary way 
they would probably run together and get up 
very wild in one great pack. Half-mooning 
may circumvent this. The flank guns advanc- 
ing very quietly under either hedge, when 
they have gone some distance, a beater on either side will start, and so 
on until by the time the flanking guns have 
reached half way up the field the centre gun 
may start. The partridges will hear the slight 
noise on their flanks and gather towards the 
middle of the field, by that time the flank 
guns will have reached the top hedge and 
have turned inwards, the partridges there 
being aware that they are surrounded, will 
get up in small lots and swing back over the 
guns in all directions — but, as a rule, it is the 
centre guns that get the cream of the sport. 
Guns stand fast and the beaters draw in- 
wards. 
When the circle is complete, great care must 
O ^ O 
X •• ... y, 
9 •• .. O 
* X 
Ox X X O 
Half-tnooning. — Second stage. 
172 
Half-mooning. — First stage. 
