52 SHOOTING AND SALMON FISHING 



over the heads of the guns at a pace astonishing for so large 

 a bird, and thus offering but snap shots ; and, helped by the 

 thick foliage and bad footing, everything was in their favour. 

 In this way we saw an old cock draw the double fire of four 

 good men and yet pass on untouched. Having gained an 

 impetus and secured the full use of their wings as the low 

 side of the wood was neared, they would provokingly begin 

 to circle upwards, and swinging back behind the beaters, 

 would again mount to the heights they had been disturbed 

 from. Those who have never tried it may think the missing 

 of so large a bird must be very bad shooting, but when flying 

 as described they will often beat the gun, so let no one 

 engaging in the sport for the first time set out with the idea 

 that this bird is a very easy victim ; likewise, let him be very 

 careful not to cover himself with disgrace by killing a hen 

 instead of a cock, for it is a far more serious offence than when 

 an "accident" happens to a hen pheasant or a grey hen. 



Let us pass on to a more plentiful description of game, 

 viz., the black grouse, as it is described in books, although 

 across the Border it is ever called blackgame. A tender, 

 weakly bird when a poult, it easily succumbs to bad weather 

 at that stage of its existence ; and even when the twentieth 

 of August arrives, they are still but poor fools and flutterers, 

 and so they remain till the corn is cut. For about the first 

 three weeks from the twentieth, depending on the harvest, 

 they afford but the poorest sport, often having to be almost 

 trodden on before they fly, and no skill is required to kill 

 them. It is undoubtedly the case that in many places these 

 fine birds are getting scarcer each year, and this arises from 

 their great stupidity and the killing of them in the month of 

 August. At that time, and before they have grown their tails, 

 even the old cocks are nearly as silly and sit almost as close 

 as the young broods, and it would be a good thing if their day 

 of doom were put back till the first of September, or even a 

 fortnight later. 



