CHAPTER XVII 



BLACKGAME 



Of all seasons the period from the end of August to the 

 middle of October is, on the Border moorlands, the most 

 difficult to kill grouse. This sentence, I am painfully 

 aware, is absolutely inapplicable to everyone except that 

 obsolete character, the hunter, since the modern sports- 

 man has cut the Gordian knot, and to him all seasons are 

 alike, in respect of such difficulties as here alluded to. 

 Well, with this preamble, I will continue in the sense in 

 which I wrote this chapter twenty years ago, and towards 

 which I yet retain a lurking- allegiance. 



The grouse have been so harassed and driven about 

 by the August shooting, that they have now really no 

 fixed haunts or flights, but go flocking about, seeking 

 safety in numbers. They sit in packs among shaggy 

 heather, always unapproachable, yet not "showing" at 

 all, as yet. The weather, moreover, is often broken, 

 and gales and rain that prevail about the Equinox tend 

 to increase their wildness. Later on, with fine sharp 

 weather in October, these packs break up, and though no 

 less wild, grouse are then scattered about in twos and 

 threes, and, sitting bare, become more possible to deal 

 with. 



During September, blackgame become more attractive 



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