i8o GUNS 



rate north of Perth, the time soon passes. Be- 

 sides, if this sort of thing does not appeal, there 

 is always a quiet pipe and chats with friends in 

 the neighbouring butts to bring one to the exciting 

 moment when the first birds, probably a stray old 

 cock or so, begin to come. Shortly afterwards the 

 coveys will be on you, and then, until the drive is 

 over, quick eyes and quick shooting must be the 

 order of the day, if a fair bag is to be made in 

 Scotland, where the vast masses of grouse to be 

 seen in a good year upon a Yorkshire moor are 

 of course never to be found. 



When the ground is flat and you see the low-flying 

 grouse come skimming towards you, there is a great 

 temptation to shoot at birds too early; or sometimes 

 people, owing to lack of experience or judgment, 

 wait until the grouse are quite close to them, which 

 means at so near a range that the shot in a hard- 

 shooting gun has not had time to spread at all, 

 and therefore it is almost like shooting with a 

 bullet — whilst the second barrel of your first gun (if 

 shooting with two guns, quite necessary to everybody 

 driving) has to be fired after the birds have passed 

 the line, and your second gun is quite useless, 

 at any rate as regards that covey. A simple and 

 excellent thing to do in flat ground is to step, 

 roughly, about forty yards straight in front of your 

 butt and place there some small white thing in 

 the heather, either a piece of paper or handker- 

 chief. This won't turn the grouse, and, by shoot- 

 ing at them the moment they get about opposite 



