184 EEMINISCENCES OF THE LEWS. 



and delights a dog so mucli as taking up a live 

 bird before him. If you doubt it, try netting 

 and shooting birds to your dog, and see which 

 steadies him most. Well, on we work along 

 the hill-top side among the rocks, scrambling 

 along the grass and short heather ; very 

 slippery, loose stones rolling under our feet ; 

 holding on every now and then by our eyelids, 

 particularly just as a bird gets up close behind 

 us and whizzes down the hill, your foot slip- 

 ping on a rolling stone as you turn and pull, 

 your shot going anywhere but into longbill. 



" It won't do,'* says Tom ; " the birds are 

 too wideawake here ; let us face home, and try 

 the flat the other side of the swamp, where we 

 got the birds this morning ; we only tried one 

 side, you know, and that not the best." And, 

 accordingly, thither we resort. The old dog 

 is right, there are some there, and we get 

 seven or eight in no time at all, the two dogs 

 working and moving as if treading on eggs, 

 and never throwing a chance away. Thus we 

 move homewards, killing every old cock grouse 

 we come across (if we can), but sparing the 

 hens ; and, what with snipes and plover, the 

 bag, though not miraculously heavy, is very 

 pretty to look at. 



I am just smoothing down and looking at the 



