GROUSE XETTTXG. 157 



sheep tracks, aloiiii' wliicli Grouse love to run, and 

 erects nets in such positions as the Ijirds are likely 

 to fly over in enterinii" or crossing- his domain. These 

 nets are seven or ci^'ht feet in height by about one 

 hundred yards in len<;-th, and he sometimes secures 

 as many as tliirt\- victims at a time in (me of them. 



(Jccasionally, when a bird is flyin^- with a strong- 

 wind behind it the impetus derived from its in- 

 creased speed will drive it clean throug-h the net, but 

 tlic threads forming its meshes are not broken with- 

 out doing- some damage to their destroyer, wliich 

 drops on the other side either dead or with both 

 wings broken. If a Grouse happens to strike the 

 Avire from wliich the net is suspended with its 

 neck, it at once decapitates itself, and the severed 

 head generally twirls high in the air. 



This num has sometimes taken as many as fifteen 

 brace of Grouse out of his snares in a single morning- ; 

 and, as will l)e seen from the picture on page 159, 

 he very obligingly allowed himself to be photo- 

 g-raphed in the act of resetting- one from which he 

 had just obtained tlie bird })rotruding from his 

 jacket pocket. These snares are particularly de- 

 structive, because driven Grouse fly into the bit 

 of freehold as a haven of rest, and when they have 

 been shot at and thoroughly disturljed they run 

 about in a state of agitation, and many of them 

 become fatally entangled in the innocent-looking 

 bits of wire. 



The old man also shoots a bit, and has a 

 favourite setter bitch, eighteen years old, and so 

 infirm that she cannot leap over a wall of any 

 height worth mentioning. Her master, who is very 

 fcmd of his canine friend, therefore lifts her on to 

 the to}) of any stone fence they desire to cross, and 

 there she sits watchinu' him until he himself has 



