160 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



have in mind — fast, far-ranging- setters. A slow, pottering 

 pointer might serve, in a way, for such work ; but it is 

 at best a makeshift, and under no circumstances can such 

 combination either satisfy or succeed. Either the dog 

 must be neglected, or, alternatively, the whole formation 

 is thrown into confusion at every passing - "touch" on 

 scent. 



The employment of the hunting-dog is not advocated 

 as affording an easier means of killing game. Quite the 

 contrary. As compared with driving, the ratio of results 

 to labour is reversed ; while nothing less than years of 

 practice will ensure a fair degree of skill in fieldcraft. To 

 enter into detail is beyond the scope of this book ; but 

 readers desiring fuller information may be referred to an 

 excellent little work, The Scientific Education of Dogs fo7" 

 the Gun, by H. H. (London : Sampson, Low & Co.). 



It is a very prevalent but erroneous belief that grouse 

 feed twice a day. This is not so. Grouse only feed in 

 earnest towards the evening. The birds, no doubt, 

 lend some grounds to the supposition by their habits of 

 "flighting" at daybreak and by their frequenting the short 

 "feeding-heather" during the earlier hours of the day. 1 

 But that they are not feeding can easily enough be 

 proved. Open the crops of a dozen grouse at 8 a.m. ; 

 they will be found empty, except perhaps for a few 

 heather-shoots, or rush-seeds, picked up in idleness or 

 for amusement. There will also be found a few bits of 

 gravel or sand, taken to aid digestion. But the crops of 

 grouse killed at dusk are choke-full of heather — an old cock 

 will contain a breakfast-cupful. I mention this point to 



1 These remarks refer exclusively to heather-fed grouse, since my experi- 

 ence does not extend to those which, by the proximity of oat-stubbles, have 

 been "educated up" to a corn diet. 



