118 MODE OF SHOOTING. 



fx'om every other Scandinavian game bird, but to partake 

 of it in perfection it mnst not have been previously 

 frozen, as is probably the case with all those that come to 

 the English market. From olden times, indeed, this bird 

 bas been looked on in the peninsula as a great delicacy. 

 The worthy Bishop Pontoppidan, when speaking of it, 

 says : " The lljerpe or Francolin is an excellent land 

 bird. It serves the Norwegians instead of pheasant 

 and moor game. . . . For its white, sound, and tender 

 flesh, and its delicious taste, I prefer it to all kinds 

 of fowl I know of. . . . In the diocese of Aggerhaus 

 and Trondbjem, where they are found in great abun- 

 dance, they don't prefer anything to the Hjerpe when 

 well roasted."* 



The Hazel-Hen being held in such high estimation in 

 Scandinavia, various are the devices resorted to for 

 effecting its captui'e. 



Some are shot to the " Stand-Hund," or pointer; 

 though the number, I take it, is inconsiderable, from 

 that dog being little available in wooded districts, where 

 alone those birds are found. But very many fall to the 

 "Fogel-Hund," especially in the early part of the autumn ; 

 for when " treed " by the dog, the birds trijcka, or sit close, 

 and can with difficulty be induced to leave their perch. 

 Not so at a more advanced period of the season, for then, 

 so soon as the dog begins challeoging, they commonly 

 take wing and move off elsewhere. But even during the 

 winter I have shot many when " treed " by my bear dogs, 



* According to M. Bromaii, the Jagare's plan of preparing the Hazel- 

 Hen, and other small game, is as follows : — " The head, tail, and wings 

 are first cut off, and after it has been disembowelled and washed, and salt, 

 pepper, <fec., introduced into the stomach, it is enveloped in a moderately 

 thick coating of clay, and then placed in hot ashes. When the clay begins 

 U> crack, it is taken off the bird, and the feathers following it, the delicious 

 morsel is then in readiness to l)r discussed." 



