UPLAND SHOOTING. 
169 
to bag ; for, without some such understanding, both charges 
will constantly be delivered into one bird, while others are going 
away unshot at. 
It is a most uncourteous and clownish fashion, that of shoot¬ 
ing across a companion’s face, if committed from ignorance only, 
or carelessness,—if done from jealousy, and a grasping desire 
cf making a larger bag, it is unpardonable and ungentleman- 
iike. A fellow who would do it, should he sent at once, nem. 
con *, to Coventry. 
The genuine sportsmen will always give, rather than take ■, 
and, even in the case of single birds flying forward in a direct 
line before two guns, the shot should always he yielded, espe¬ 
cially by the person who hunts the dogs, and who may be in 
some sort regarded as at home , and therefore bound to do the 
honors to his comrade. 
Where two persons shoot much together, it is well to take 
such shots alternately; and there is another advantage gained 
by this, as there is by the practice of all punctilios in sporting, 
that it tends to promote equanimity and coolness, without which 
nothing great can be effected in this line. 
So long as the weather holds fair, and the birds lie well to 
the dog, there remains, I believe, no more to be said on the 
subject. But it must be observed, that in wild, windy weather, 
early in the season, if we know that there are birds on the range, 
that they have been killed on the meadows in numbers, and for 
successive days, and that there have been no heavy frosts to ba¬ 
nish them from the district, they will be found, as I have before 
hinted, in haunts altogether different from their usual feeding 
ground. So soon, therefore, as it is evident that they are not to 
be found at all, or in anything like adequate numbers, on the 
meadows, it is advisable to turn your attention instantly to the 
skirts of the nearest woodlands, under sheltered leesides of 
young plantations, among willow, alder, and briar brakes, and, 
in short, wherever there is good soft springy feeding ground, 
perfectly sheltered, and protected from the wind by trees or 
shrubbery. 
VOL. i. 
13 
