WHAT QEOITSE AEE.] 



SHOOTING, 



[■WOOD GE0U3B. 



CHAPTER IV. 



GEOTJSE SHOOTING. — WHAT GROUSE AEE ; WOOD GKOrSE, OR CAPERCALLIE ; BLACK GROUSE; RED 

 GROUSE; PTARMIGAN; LOCALITIES OF GROUSE. 



Having now treated of all that we deem the 

 most essential matters to be attended to as 

 the preliminaries to the actual sport of shoot- 

 ing, and having given such instructions as 

 cannot fail to be serviceable to those who are 

 desirous of entering the field as sportsmen, 

 and of becoming what are usually called 

 **good shots," we will now enter upon the 

 actual practice of shooting itself ; introducing 

 the reader to the different sorts of game which 

 have the magnetic power of attracting the 

 lover of the gun from the mansion to the 

 moor, where, under the influence of fair or 

 foul weather, he is still an enthusiast in the 

 pursuit of his sport. In the sense in which 

 we have just used the word game, of course the 

 reader will understand that we mean it to be 

 applied only to such animals as are usually con- 

 sidered so in this country ; or, in other words, 

 to such birds and beasts as come under the 

 protection of the game-laws. Such animals as 

 lions, tigers, and elephants, may be accounted 

 game in the eyes of the Indian sportsmen ; 

 but as these monsters of the woods and wilds 

 of the tropics have neither home nor habita- 

 tion in the moors and manors of Scotland and 

 England, we shall have no occasion to make 

 any observations on the best manner of shoot- 

 ing them. Our province lies within tlie boun- 

 daries of our own island; and it is to its 

 feathered and furred wild inhabitants that our 

 remarks will be confined. 



WHAT GROUSE ARE. 

 Sir William Jardine informs us, in his 

 Naturalises Library, vol. iv., that, "by the 

 word Grouse, we, in general language, are apt 

 to associate our ideas with the common moor- 

 fowl. But, in the technical terms of ornitholoerv 

 the generic name, Grouse and Tetrao, is re- 

 stricted to those bearing the form of the Euro- 

 pean wood grouse, dusky grouse of America, 

 &c. They are the largest birds of the family ; 

 of a very round and powerful form, and fre- 

 530 



quent healthy forests in preference to the 

 wild and open moor; perch and often roost 

 upon trees, where young shoots and tender 

 bark supply them with food ; and although the 

 legs are plumed with short feathers, the toes 

 are naked. The tail is composed of broad 

 feathers, and is proportionably long and 

 rounded. They are mostly polygamous, and 

 the females and young differ considerably from 

 the males ; the plumage of the former being 

 shades of brown and tawny, with black bars 

 and markings ; the colours of the latter dis- 

 tributed in broad masses of black, glossy 

 green, or steel-blue, and deep brown. They 

 inhabit North America and Europe; those of 

 the latter country extending into Northern 

 Asia." 



THE WOOD GROUSE, OR CAPERCALLIE. 



The looocl grouse (Capercallie, cock-of-the- 

 wood, or giant grouse) is polygamous, and, when 

 incubation begins, the male selects a situation 

 remarkable for its couspicuousness ; and here 

 he commences his call which attracts the 

 females, and which he accompanies by throw- 

 ing himself into various attitudes. This call 

 is described as resembling the word jjeller, 

 peller, peller, which is answered by the females 

 croaking somewhat like ravens, and rapidly 

 assembling from all parts of the surrounding 

 woods. When this gathering has become 

 sufficiently numerous, the male descends from 

 his eminence, introduces himself, and joins 

 the company. His gallantry, however, soon 

 ceases, and his loves do not seem to partake 

 of that romantic or inextinguishable nature 

 which we have known to be exhibited in the 

 history of higher races. When his females 

 commence incubation, be abandons them, 

 and skulks among the brushwood, where he 

 renews his plumage, and leaves his wives to 

 hatch, and rear their progeny as tliey best can. 

 He stands at the head of feathered game in 

 these islands, but he is very seldom to be 



