SPOET OF BUTE. 139 



such ground he can watch with delight the in- 

 stinct which his high-couraged and keen-scented 

 dogs throw into their work ; his own knowledge 

 of the sport and walking powers will have full 

 scope ; and should his bag be up to the mark at 

 the end of the day, he can feel satisfied that it 

 was scientifically and pluckily filled. 



In the above remarks I only allude to men 

 who lay claim to be called the {Lite of the shoot- 

 ing world. A predecessor of mine, in a grouse 

 tenancy, candidly told me that he gave up the 

 moor, as he had to wander so long without a 

 shot that he was likely to miss from nervous- 

 ness. I also suspected that his kennel was none 

 of the best, for during the term of his lease he 

 never exceeded four brace of grouse in one day ; 

 while the first 12th I shot over the hill, with 

 first-rate dogs, my bag was nineteen brace, and 

 from ten to fifteen during August and the first 

 weeks of September. This gentleman immedi- 

 ately took a moor in Perthshire, and the first 

 day bagged fifty brace. I cordially wished him 

 joy, and felt convinced that a prolific moor was 

 the place for a nervous shot with indifferent dogs. 



