80 WING-SHOOTING. 



brace. Now, in order to approach within fair distances, 

 when the season is well advanced, it is requisite that no 

 noise should be made, and that your dog should obe}^ you 

 rather by signs than otherwise, as a headstrong, noisy 

 brute is entirely out of place. In the afternoon, late in 

 the autumn, grouse feed upon beech-nuts, and are usually 

 wdld, because the ground upon which they feed is rather 

 bare, that is, devoid of much underbrush, and the sports- 

 man is readily seen. I have often seen birds upon the 

 ground upwards of sixty or seventy yards away. Under 

 like circumstances, I generally allow the dog full sway, 

 and as he is a high-headed worker, the birds are scented 

 at long distances. The instant that the dog winds the 

 game, he works carefully, slowly, and steps lightly, often 

 standing for a few minutes in order to catch the direction 

 from which the scent is coming. The dog is seen by the 

 bird, which often runs to cover. In the meantime I re- 

 main stationary until the dog makes his point, and then 

 I approach slowly. In this way the dog and I generally 

 approach within ten yards of the bird. But if the bird 

 flushes wild, I endeavour to take his line of flight, which 

 will extend over three or four hundred yards ; when he 

 ends it, he generally goes to cover, such as by the side of 

 a log, in a brush-heap, in the top of a fallen tree, or in a 



