GROUSE SHOOTING. 157 



We left our horses at the old bridge of Ballyveeney, and 

 proceeded to make an extensive circle of the moors, skirting, 

 as we went along, the bases of the ridge of hills, which shuts 

 out Erris from the interior. 



It was eleven o'clock when the dogs were uncoupled. The 

 breeze was brisk and warm, and the ground was either undu- 

 lated into hillocks, or intersected by rivulets, whose broken 

 banks were thickly covered with luxurious heath. It was a 

 beat, on which a grouse-shooter would risk a kingdom, it 

 realized our expectations, and we found game abundantly. 



Hunting for grouse during the basking hour of the day, 

 is rigidly prohibited by all gentlemen who compile sporting 

 directories ; and yet every shooter knows, that at these pro- 

 scribed hours, himself is commonly on the moors. Morning 

 and evening, when the birds are on foot in search of food, is 

 undoubtedly preferable to the duller portion of the day, when 

 they are accustomed to indulge in a siesta. But generally 

 some considerable distance must be travelled before the sports- 

 man can reach his beat from his quarters. The morning is con- 

 sumed on horseback or in the shooting- cart ; the same road must 

 be again accomplished before night ; and hence, the middle of the 

 day is, of necessity, the portion devoted to the pursuit of game. 



To find the birds, when, satisfied with food, they leave the 

 moor to bask in some favourite haunt, requires both patience 

 and experience ; and here the mountain-bred sportsman proves 

 his superiority over the less practised shooter. The packs 

 then lie closely, and occupy a small surface on some sunny 

 brow or sheltered hollow. The best-nosed dogs will pass 

 within a few yards, and not acknowledge them ; and patient 

 hunting, with every advantage of the wind, must be employed 

 to find grouse at this dull hour. 



But if close and judicious hunting be necessary, the places 

 to be beaten are comparatively few, and the sportsman's eye 

 readily detects the spot, where the pack is sure to be disco- 

 vered. He leaves the open feeding-grounds for heathery 

 knowes and sheltered valleys and, while the uninitiated wearies 

 his dogs in vain over the hill- side, where the birds, hours 

 before, might have been expected, the older sportsman profits 

 by his experience, and seldom fails in discovering the dell 



according to his account, was lost " during the French," that is, at the 

 period of the French invasion in '98. 



