GROUSE-SHOOTING. 335 



variety I have ever shot, except, of course, the black- 

 cock. This, however, is not, I believe, scientifically 

 speaking, a true grouse. I have several times been 

 on the point of starting for the Arctic Circle to shoot 

 the willow grouse, or rypea, but something or other 

 has always prevented my going. 



Of Asiatic grouse I know two varieties, the greater 

 and lesser sand-grouse. Both are common in India 

 at certain seasons, especially the latter. Though 

 prettily marked birds, they are when alive so exactly 

 the colour of the yellowish sand they inhabit that it is 

 impossible to see them when almost at one's feet. 

 They rise with a whistling cry, and are easy to shoot. 

 It is somewhat curious to note that though neither 

 when flying close at hand, nor when in one's hand, nor 

 when cooked, have they any characteristics (bar their 

 feathered legs) in common with the Scottish grouse, 

 when they are flying at some distance no one familiar 

 with the latter could mistake them for anything but 

 grouse. They have that peculiar flight of the tribe, 

 which is impossible to describe, but which will 

 be found admirably depicted in the instantaneous 

 photographs in the Badminton Book on Shooting. 



Unfortunately, as I have said, when cooked there 

 is no resemblance between them and that most de- 

 licious of game birds, their Scottish cousins. They 

 are dry and tasteless, like most Indian game. 



