MOORGAME IN MID-AUTUMN 241 



best be intercepted, leaving- the keeper, with the dog, 

 to put the birds up so soon as that point has been 

 reached. 



The number of grouse which can be killed thus is often 

 considerable : for not only can advantage be taken of 

 ravines or water-courses, but every crag" or brae, in fact, 

 every inequality of the ground if sufficiently abrupt, will 

 serve to conceal an approach. Thus a thorough knowledge 

 of the lie of the land, with the relation of its gradients and 

 distances, will enable the possessor thereof to approach 

 game which otherwise appears inaccessible, and to obtain 

 the maximum of shots while disturbing the minimum 

 of ground. 



Shooting on such lines, combining both dog-work 

 and stalking at once, involves hard going and ceaseless 

 attention. An objection may be raised that the shots, 

 being straight-away, are therefore easy. The basis of 

 reasoning, however, on which all away-going shots are 

 nowadays pronounced "too easy," has never been 

 apparent to the author. Of course if pheasants sprung 

 from turnips were the sole criterion, the argument would 

 become intelligible: with "back-end" grouse on the 

 fells, it is not so. The shots thus obtained are mostly 

 40-yard rises, with kill — or miss — at 50 yards, for wild 

 grouse are quick at doubling a crag or dipping a ridge. 

 Our friend "Pompommer" might find them present as 

 smart shooting as any he ever saw ; but the ante- 

 cedent strategy, being outside the narrow limits of 

 his practice, would probably preclude his ever getting a 

 chance. 



This system of shooting the wildest of grouse over 

 dogs, as indicated in rough outline above, presupposes 

 the existence of broken ground, of cleughs and ravines, 



