30 SHOOTING AND SALMON FISHING 



fashion even in shooting - shoes to wear pointed toes, soft 

 corns between the joints have become very common, and 

 they may be cured, or, at any rate, kept in order, by placing 

 a pinch of Matthews' Fuller's Earth between the toes every 

 morning before the season begins ; but it is no use doing this 

 if the feet are likely to get wet. Do not be tempted to dress 

 up in a kilt, as it is a difficult garment for a Sassenach to 

 manage with propriety, while on still days the attentions of 

 those litde pests, the midges, will soon make the unaccustomed 

 wearer wish himself better covered. The bulk of the Scotch 

 gendemen, excepting for evening dress, have discarded it 

 in favour of the less picturesque but more serviceable knicker- 

 bocker. A London chieftain or a Manchester highlander 

 when in company with other Saxons not attired in the garb 

 of old Gaul quickly becomes an irresistible object for jokes, 

 and we often laugh at the remembrance of going to a 

 ptarmigan beat one day at the end of October with a gende- 

 man clad in tartan. He was a great friend and favourite 

 with us all ; but, in spite of that, a lot of fresh-fallen snow 

 having covered the hill-top, the same idea seemed to suggest 

 itself simultaneously to the whole party, and the moment a 

 fair chance offered, not one of us was able to resist the 

 temptation of chucking a snowball up his petticoats; and in 

 toiling up to the steep haunt of the ptarmigan plenty of 

 chances were offered. 



In most parts of Scodand — always provided it be dry 

 and sunny — grouse are very easy to shoot during the first 

 ten days of the season, and if no shooters ever grew tired 

 the bags would be even much heavier than they are. On 

 a really wet day it is wiser to stay at home, even if it be 

 the twelfth, for wild birds and wild weather ever go together ; 

 also all game killed in a downpour is more or less spoilt for 

 the table, while for sending away by train it is absolutely 

 worthless. A grouse beat properly worked should be shot 

 all day with the view of sending every covey flushed towards 



