22 GEOUSE SHOOTING, 



Come, then ! the heather bloom 



Woos with its wild perfume ; 

 Fragrant and blithesome thy welcome shall be : 



Gaily the fountain sheen 



Leaps from the mountain gi'een ; 

 Come to our home of the moorland and lea. 



There is no species of rural sport of which the 

 characteristics are so picturesque and so mid as 

 those of grouse shooting. Fox hunting and wood- 

 cock shooting both lead their disciples " remote 

 from cities ; " but though they be wild sports, the 

 season of the year peculiar to them divests the 

 scenes in which they are pursued of all the attributes 

 of picturesque or beautiful. It is the golden time of 

 the year to the young amateur of the trigger. 



We are still among the hills and moors of the 

 " land of brown heath;" for, after all, for mooifowl 

 shooting, Scotland is the only place. In many dis- 

 tricts of Ireland grouse abound among the wilder- 

 nesses of bog with which that country is overrmi ; 

 and in the northern comities of England they have 

 been of late so carefidly preserved as to afford fair 

 sport: but " Caledonia, stern and wild," is the 

 chosen land of the grouse shooter. Few attempt the 

 sport in the Welch mountains, except such as happen 

 to be to the matter born — the native Taffies — or 

 their guests " in the season of the year." In Scot- 

 land, shooting-quarters are as commonly let to yearly 

 tenants or on lease, as the use of the land is hired 

 out to the farmer. We do not pretend to offer coun- 

 sel to those who are about to rent a " shooting,'' 



