n8 ECHOES OF SPORT 



when one is after deer ; to-day the birds are 

 wild as hawks, and it is the deer that seem 

 to be playing " Chuckie " among the stones. 

 We dared not draw far afield from each 

 other now in the ghostlike mist, but we worked 

 back and forwards, when luckily we saw two 

 little friends silhouetted against the grey veil, 

 squatting on a rock. Stealthily I crept nearer 

 to within fifteen or twenty yards. " Shoot, 

 shoot," whispered Donald in my ear; but 

 no, my pride revolted at shooting my first 

 ptarmigan sitting, so to Donald's disgust I 

 waved my gun at them. Up two got, and 

 down one came. " If Mistress Murray had 

 fired her first shot before they rose she would 

 have got both," was Donald's gentle repri- 

 mand, but Mistress Murray was so infinitely 

 relieved to have got a ptarmigan on the wing 

 at all that she accepted the rebuke with a 

 beaming smile. We stalked another one (the 

 bereaved mate I fear), but he never let us 

 get near enough for a good chance ; twice I 

 blazed at him, this time sitting as well as flying, 

 to please Donald, but they were long shots. 



