56 SHOOTING. 



the main, shy birds, but those who are acquainted mth their haunts 

 will find no great difficulty in reaching them. They are partial to 

 long ling and roughish copse-wood. Under the bank of a deep 

 ravine, particularly in mid-day, and if there be a cold wind l^lowing, 

 they will be very readily found. The young are comparatively 

 tame till they have moulted ; and the sportsman has often almost 

 to kick_ them out from among low thick brushwood. After they 

 get their_ new coat of feathers on, they seem to increase in wisdom 

 aud cunning ; and often set the dodges of the shooter completely at 

 defiance. 



Black grouse require full sized shot; and many sportsmen 

 prefer a single to a double barrelled gun. It is not considered 

 .according to the strict laws of sporting to kill the hen bird. 



There are great numbers of black grouse in Eussia. and their 

 capture is effected in the following manner. Huts full of loop- 

 holes, like Httle forts, are built purposely in the woods for these 

 bn-ds. Decoy birds are placed at a short distance from these 

 spots; these are mere artificial imitations made of black cloth. 

 As the grouse assemble the shooters fire through the opeiiings, 

 and if the sportsman succeed in keeping hiiuself out of sight, the 

 bn-ds are not frightened by the mere report of the gun ; and on this 

 account great quantities are killed. During the ^dnter season in 

 Siberia, the inhabitants take numbers of these birds in the following 

 fashion. A certam number of poles are laid horizontally on forked 

 sticks m the open forests of birch ; small branches of corn are 

 fixed to them by way of a lure ; and, at a short distance, certain 

 tall baskets of a conical figure are placed with the broadest part 

 uppermost ; just within the mouth of the basket is placed a small 

 wheel, through which passes an axis so nicely fixed as to admit it 

 to play very readily, and on the least touch, eit'her on one side or the 

 other, to drop down and agam recover its position. The birds are 

 soon attracted by the corn on the horizontal poles, and after 

 ahghtmg upon them, and feeding, they fly to the baskets and 

 attempt to settle on their tops, when the wheel drops sideways, 

 and they fall headlong into the snare. 



THE RED GEOUSE. 



The Red Grouse {Tetras Scotims, Linn.).— This bird forms the 

 staple article of grouse-shootmg, especiallv in the northern parts 

 ot Grreat Eritain. Its length is about fifteen inches, and weight 

 about nineteen ounces. The bill is black, the eyes hazel, and the 

 nostrils shaded with small red and black feathers. At the base of 

 the lower bill there is a white spot on each side. The throat is 

 red, and each eye is arched \\ii\\ a large naked spot, Tlie body is 

 beautifully mottled with red and black, which give it a tortoise- 

 shell appearance. The breast and bellv are of^a purple hue, and 

 crossed with small dusky lines. The tail consists of sixteen 

 leathers, of equal lengths ; and the four middlemost are barred 



