BRITISH SPORT PAST AND PRESENT 



fall in with our poacher of the morning. As we round the corner 

 of a knoll, three curlews come flying towards us, and contrary 

 to the custom of these shy birds, keep going round us in circles, 

 close to the ground and almost within gunshot ; and, sure 

 enough, behind them is the falcon, who sheers off when he 

 observes us, but does not go far off, if I know anything of his 

 habits. When, later, the curlews fly off in the direction of 

 Loch Crinan, there is a rush of wings, and we see one of the 

 finest bits of wild hawking it was ever my privilege to witness. 

 I have seen the falcon after terns, ducks, and grouse, but I 

 never saw anything to equal that rapid flight after the curlew — 

 one of which, alas ! succumbed at last, but at such a distance 

 that I could only just note that the two joined and fell together. 



' We now turn in the same direction as the falcon flew, for, 

 like the curlew, our home is by the sea ; and at half-past six 

 Duncan and his panniers are despatched by a straight path to 

 Roodel Glen, where the keeper's cart is waiting. He carries 

 nearly thirty brace on his back ; and we have added two or 

 three more to the bag, as well as a couple and a half of ducks, 

 by the time we reach the glen at seven o'clock.' 



Mr. Gathorne Hardy says he thinks he has been colder 

 grouse driving than when pursuing any other form of sport ; 

 and he pleads extenuating circumstances for the chilly M.P. 

 who lighted a fire in his butt and went to sleep over it, what 

 time the birds were streaming over him. 



Driving, much less in vogue north of Tweed than on York- 

 shire moors, was practised in a rough and ready way, says 

 Mr. Spencer Stanhope, at Cannon Hall, Barnsley, about 1805.* 

 Regular drives without butts were arranged in 1836, when three 

 brace per gun per drive was held a large bag. Lord Walsing- 

 ham adopted the modern system of grouse-driving on Blubber- 

 house Moor in the 'sixties. 



The year 1872 was a wonderful grouse year and saw two 

 remarkable bags made. On 20tli August six guns on Wem- 

 mergill Moor (under 12,000 acres) killed 2070 birds : to which 



' The Grouse. Fur, Feather, and Fin Series. 



96 



