CHAPTER III 



CAPERCAILZIE-BLACKGAME— PTARMIGAN— ROEDEER 



Of capercailzie shooting the author has had hardly any ex- 

 perience, and the little he has seen was during a visit to the late 

 Mr. Herbert Wood, at the time he rented Meggernie Castle 

 "by" Aberfeldy ; the said "by" meaning twenty-two miles 

 from the railway station. In two seasons we had but four 

 days' sport at this game and but three shots, to one of which 

 fell a fine cock of nine pounds weight. The manner of our 

 sport was as follows : at the back of the castle was a steep, 

 densely- wooded hill which was inside the " policies," as the 

 Scotch call a stretch of park-like grass ; this wood was some 

 two miles in length by one in width, and there were neither 

 paths or rides in it. The bottom was one mass of big 

 boulders hidden by bracken higher than one's head, so that 

 the going was about as bad as could be ; and on a warm 

 day, oh ! how stifling it was, and how the flies did bite ! 

 In this thick cover, in a seldom-disturbed seclusion, the caper- 

 cailzie dwelt, in company with a few blackgame and some 

 deer of all sorts. 



When it was beaten, a certain number of guns were told 

 off to come through with the beaters ; others kept forward at 

 the foot of the hill, while other two armed with rifles went 

 to the extreme end and top, on the chance of deer breaking 

 out. The capercailzie were usually found sitting in trees 

 near the summit, and when disturbed would throw themselves 

 off their perches with a great stir, and instead of flying 

 forward would launch themselves down the hillside and pass 



