178 GUNS 



be followed by everybody, I will turn to the sport. 

 To commence with, we will talk about that most 

 fascinating game, grouse - shooting, which has 

 greater charm for many sportsmen than any other 

 kind of sport, because of the wild and interesting 

 country in which it is usually pursued. Of course for 

 big bags Yorkshire stands far ahead, and at Wemmer- 

 gill. High Force, Bolton Abbey, Askrigg, &c., huge 

 numbers of grouse have been accounted for, which, 

 take them all round, are not to be beaten. The 

 biggest thing ever done single-handed was the 

 work of that fine shot, Lord Walsingham, he 

 having on the Bluberhouse, Yorkshire, killed by 

 himself upwards of a thousand grouse in a day's 

 driving. This shows extraordinary endurance, as 

 I believe on the day he made this bag. Lord Wal- 

 singham fired well over thirteen hundred cartridges 

 — an immense strain on the nerves. Probably two 

 of the finest moors out of Yorkshire are Abbey- 

 stead in Lancashire, and Ruabon Hills moors in 

 Wales. Then in Scotland, places with a deservedly 

 good reputation are Moy, Hunthill, Lochendorb, 

 Meallmore, and the first of these moors holds the 

 record for sport on the other side of the Border. 



Now to turn to the actual sport of grouse-driving 

 and how it is done. Of course almost everywhere in 

 Yorkshire birds are driven even on the '' Twelfth," 

 as they would never allow people to get near by 

 walking, but in most parts of Scotland grouse are 

 *^ walked " early in August, and driving only taken to 

 when the birds have become too wild to get near in 



