132 BIRD-LIFE OF THE i50RDERS. 



congregated to enjoy the unwonted warmth. It was about 

 four o'clock, and my bag almost empty — indeed, for some 

 days I had done next to nothing, under the adverse conditions 

 of rain, fog, and mist thick as peasoup. But now the chance 

 had come, and I hastened to take advantage of it ; by 

 working under the wind, and keeping constantly to the 

 shaded eastern slopes of the ridges, I got shot after shot at 

 the wild September Grouse, which sat close under the high- 

 est crests, revelling in the last rays of the declining sun. 



In reference to the weather — though weather forecasts are 

 notoriously unreliable (amateuv ones at any rate), it is fre- 

 quently the case that a very wet morning earlij is succeeded 

 — say at 10 or 11 a.m. — by a fine bright day. Early on such 

 mornings, as we have peered out into the still unbroken 

 darkness, with the pitiless rain descending in " whole water," 

 our sinking spirits have been cheered by our worthy hostess's 

 remark, " It's raining too hard for a wet day ! " a forecast 

 which, in at least a clear majority of cases, has proved correct. 

 On such occasions, therefore, I would advise the keenest 

 sportsman to go quietly to bed again for a couple of hours, 

 and try to comfort himself with the reflection that " good 

 luck is better than early rising." 



