GROUSING 39 



prosecuted that two years afterwards he killed on the two 

 opening days of the season over a hundred brace to his own 

 gun each day, while two friends staying with him also killed 

 large bags during the same time. The total for the season 

 was twelve hundred brace killed off ground which till then had 

 never been known to yield more than three hundred brace ; 

 and there can be no doubt that this splendid result was due 

 to hard trapping, and not to any succession of extra good 

 breeding seasons. 



Anyone who is anxious in August to see what vermin there 

 are on a moor can arrive at some sort of an idea by risking 

 the loss of a little game, and if a dead grouse be dropped every 

 few hundred yards when shooting by the side of any long 

 stone dyke, and a return can be made some hours later and 

 the birds picked up untouched, he is to be congratulated. 



The best way to get up a head of grouse on a newly leased 

 moor is to forget the first year's rent, and a good deal of the 

 sport ; during the first season adhere strictly to shooting no 

 bird that does not crow ; and then, as soon as this policy is 

 rewarded by a fair head of game, let driving be commenced — 

 no matter if the keeper dislikes it, or the ground seems to 

 forbid it, some birds will certainly be bagged each day. 

 Experience will show how to get more, while those that are 

 killed will be principally old cocks, and then the season 

 following more birds will be found than ever were there 

 before driving was introduced. There are still large tracts 

 of West Coast shooting to be leased for something about four 

 hundred a year, and we know of more than one which, we 

 believe, could be made to yield fully a thousand brace in lieu 

 of the traditional two hundred and fifty. 



Wire-fencing is a most certain and deadly grouse destroyer, 

 for if following the valley of two long slopes, and the fence 

 does not come into the sky line, a great number of birds will 

 annually dash themselves to pieces against it. 



Telegraph wires, carried across a moor, are also very 



