6E0USE SHOOTING. Q\ 



PART IV. 



CHAPTER V. 



vYe have now treated of what may be termed the elementary 

 departments of the art or science of shooting; the nature of the 

 gim 01 the powder and shot, of the wadding, of the dog, and of the 

 hrst rudiments ot the sportsman's craft, considered as matters of a 

 pui-ely mecimmcal kmd. We have now to enter upon a different 

 tield otmaun-y and description: that of treating of the various 

 ionds ot game to which shooting is commonly applied. In one 

 sense ox the word, game is one of a very indefinite meaning There 

 are no liraits to the objects that a man may shoot with a gun. Some 

 may call hons and elephants game, because they are often destroyed 

 by this mstriunent alone. "We must, however, di'aw a more definite 

 Ime oi demarcation, and avoid extreme and far-fetched classifica- 

 tions. Ihe term shooting or sporting with the gun is commonly 

 iumted to certain kmds of the feathered creation, with now and 

 then an appHcation of the projectile to the killing of a few small 

 animals, as the hare, the rabbit, and occasionally the deer. To this 

 general outline we shall confine ourselves. 



GROUSE SHOOTING. 



Sir William Jardine tells us (in ^nsNaturalisfsUbrari/, vol. iv.), 

 that "by the _ word grouse, we, in general language, are apt to 

 associate our ideas with the common inuii'-fowl. But m the tech- 

 nical terms of ornithology the generic name. Grouse and Tetrao, is 

 restricted to those beariug the form of the European wood grouse, 

 dusky grouse of America, &c. They are the largest bii^ls of the 

 family, of a very round and powerful form, and frequent heathy 

 forests in preference to the wild and open muir, perch and often 

 J^opst upon trees, where young shoots and tender bark supply them 

 ■with food; and although the legs are plumed with short feathers, 

 the toes are naked. The tail is composed of broad feathers, and is 

 propoi'tionably long and rounded. They are mostly polygamous, 

 and the females and young differ considerably from the males, the 

 plumage of the former being shades of brown and tawny, with 

 black bars and markings, the colours of the latter distributed itt 

 broad masses of black, glossy green, or steel-blue, and deep brown. 



