CAPERCAILZIE, BLACKGAME, PTARMIGAN, ETC. 55 



in order to force the birds back to the woods, when the usual 

 sport began, always resulting in a variety of nine or ten sorts 

 of game each day. Driven blackcock make very deceiving 

 shooting for those who are unused to it. Flying silently and 

 weighing between three and four pounds, they convey no 

 impression of their great speed, and it looks impossible to 

 miss the large black lump coming apparently steadily overhead ; 

 thus most of the uninitiated are tempted to shoot too much 

 at them, and two gentlemen, both holding good names at 

 partridge drives in Norfolk, each came home the first day 

 they joined in the sport vowing the blackcocks bore charmed 

 lives or were armour-plated. 



For this shooting we prefer No. 4 shot, but No. 5 in the 

 first barrel and No. 4 in the other is also very good. On any 

 shooting offering chances at many sorts of game, a cartridge- 

 belt is most useful ; those with metal clips are the best. The 

 buckle will divide the "fours" from the "fives," and a pocket 

 can hold some " sevens " ; and thus prepared, cartridges can 

 easily be kept unmixed and quickly changed as often as wished. 

 Also, in a wet country, the belt worn under the coat and vest 

 certainly keeps ammunition drier than any other way of 

 carrying it ready for use. When first visiting Kilmaronaig in 

 1867, there were large flocks of blackgame close to the lodge, 

 and it was within half a mile of it that the score of twenty-two 

 was made. 



Pheasants were, however, introduced into what were called 

 the home covers, with the result that the long-tailed cocks drove 

 those with the curly ones right away, and two years after 

 the pheasants appeared it was rare to see a blackcock. It 

 was on this beat the author once saw a cock pheasant in rising 

 break its neck against the bough of an oak, while some few 

 minutes later from the same wood flew a covey of bewildered 

 partridges, and coming at him so low that he dared not shoot, 

 he jumped up and caught and held one of the covey with a high 

 left-handed catch, while a little chorus of " Well fielded ! " was 



