GROUSE-SHOOTIKG. 81 



thicket ; and when following him up, I endeavour to keep 

 on his line of flight, yet I give any likely hiding-place a 

 call, on my way, that lies near by. In order to attain 

 good results, the work, at times, must necessarily be slow, 

 and with as little noise as possible, yet it is often most tire- 

 some to the wrists as the gun must be held " on the ready" 

 for nearly the whole time, as almost every bird is secured 

 by quick shooting ; but the sport is the most exciting, the 

 shootinor the most difficult, and the work the most satis- 

 factory of any that I have had any experience with, be- 

 cause it is claimed that one of the great charms of sport 

 is when success has been attained under special difficulties 

 On the other hand, late in the season, T have often 

 travelled over miles of beech-ridges without finding a 

 single bird, when I would resort to swampy grounds, and 

 there meet with fair success. On these grounds you often 

 require a companion, if not two. Such grounds are 

 usually made up in this way : a piece of open ground, 

 then a patch of alders or willows, or both ; in the coverts, 

 the birds may be found. The dog may be upon a point, 

 a shooter is upon the opposite sides of a covert; the third 

 person goes in and flushes the bird. In December I have, 

 many-the-times, made capital bags over such grounds, 



when I could not get a single shot upon others. 

 G 



