24б DIFFICULTY OF SHOOTING THEM. 



daybreak and at midday. In any case they are 

 rarely heard, and one bird repeats its cry only five 

 or six times durino" the momino•.^ The lono^ and 

 irregular intervals between their call-notes, and their 

 extreme shyness, make it difficult to shoot them, at 

 all events in spring ; besides which, the uneven 

 ground in which they are found, covered, on the 

 northern sides of the ravines, with dense bushes of 

 rhododendron, and on the southern slopes, with 

 prickly bushes of barberry, hawthorn, and wild rose, 

 added to the numerous rocks, and the fallen timber, 

 make it most difficult sport. In such ground as this a 

 dog is of no use, even were it able to follow its master 

 up the steeper places. You have only your ears and 

 eyes to assist you, and even these are not of much 

 use, for the wary bird sees or hears you long before 

 you can come up to it ; it is a fast runner, and will 

 never rise from the ground unless surprised. You 

 may hear the patter of its feet a few paces off, as it 

 disappears in some impenetrable thicket, before you 

 have time to raise your gun, far less to shoot ; and 

 its tracks are as completely hidden as though it had 

 dived under water. Its tenacity of life too is mar- 

 vellous. I have seen them fly after receiving a 

 whole charge of shot at fifty paces ; and, if only 

 winged, run into the bushes and escape. If by 

 some extraordinary luck you happen to see one close 

 by, you fire at once, as your only chance of a shot, 

 and the charge blows the bird to pieces and spoils 

 it for preserving. The difficulties indeed are so 



* The cocks fight ckiring the pairing time. 



