SHOOTING AT THE PAIRING-GROUND. 39 



The fowler should also be careful never to advance 

 until the sisniiigcu has actually commenced, for an old 

 Capercali cock that has previously been persecuted will, 

 perhaps, when one imagines it is on the very point of 

 beginning the last-named note, suddenly stop in its spel ; 

 and, if one then advances, will most assuredly take wing. 

 "When again the man lialts after ■sisningen, it should be in 

 an easy position ; so that, however long he may have to 

 wait before the bird re-commences its spel, it will not be 

 needful for him to change it for another. 



During the early part of the spring, when the cock 

 carries on his spel quite alone, he runs the greatest risk of 

 his life ; but, wheu at an after-period he is joined by the 

 liens, they act the part of his guardian angels. On the 

 least appearance of peril, they, to put him on his guard, 

 utter a peculiar kind of cackle ; and, should not this 

 suffice to attract his attention, one or other of them will 

 straightways fly past the tree on which he is perched, and 

 at times so near to him as apparently to strike him with 

 the tip of her wing, which unmistakable hint he cannot 

 but comprehend, and, as a consequence, moves off at once 

 " in the wake " of his kind moniti-ess. 



Happily but few^ hens, comparatively speaking, are 

 shot at the Lek-stcille, partly because they are more wary 

 than the cock, but chiefly, I take it, owing to the fowler 

 having other and better game in view. Indeed, were a 

 proportionate slaughter to take place amongst them, the 

 breed, in parts of Scandinavia, must soon become extinct. 

 As it is, the cocks are so ruthlessly shot down during the 

 pairing season that a large portion of the hens are unable 

 to find mates; and hence the number of barren birds 

 {Gall'Udnor) one meets with in the forest. Were people 

 to refrain from killing the cocks until the spring is well 

 advanced, and pairing for the most part over, no great 

 harm would be done, and they still might have ample 



