84 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



what may be derived from dropping branchers in a rookery, in 

 blazing away pell-mell at young grouse, merely to make up a 

 monstrous bag, which shall read bravely in a newspaper para- 

 graph, but the outs and ins of whose contents are kept a profound 

 mystery. 



Whilst the Laird of M e's gun spoke to a hundred brace, 



less or more, that of Abercairney, on the occasion I refer to, 

 gave evidence of the skill as well as the judgment with which it 

 had been levelled, in the shape of eighteen old male grouse, the 

 pick of as many packs. This contrast, in the way of dealing 

 with birds, speaks for itself, and is introduced by me in order to 

 illustrate the notions of what constitutes sport. That the whole- 

 sale butchery system should be so generally acted upon, and, the 

 scarcity of grouse notwithstanding, frequently made a subject of 

 surprise and complaint by the terrorists themselves, indicates an 

 obtuseness of comprehension, or a want of common sense, in com- 

 plete keeping with their treatment of the grouse stock. 



The entertainment at Abercairney's shooting-lodge was a rich 

 treat, in its own way, to a youth and a Sassenach, for although 

 born in Midlothian I am bound to consider myself one of the alien 

 race ; nay, to have been born, and bred to boot, at John o' Groat's, 

 a place which our countrymen (I speak in the large sense of the 

 woi'd) are in general under the firm conviction, simply because 

 it lies in the extreme north of Scotland, forms part of the High- 

 lands, would not have made kith or kin of me in the eyes of a 

 genuine Celt. 



At dinner, the ceremony of saying grace was finished off, if 

 not wholly conducted, by the chieftain's own piper, who strutted 

 up and down the narrow space assigned to him with an air of 

 dignity assimilated to that of the moor- cock itself, when in full 

 courting plumage. A cover removed, and grouse soup, with 

 other preliminaries, discussed, in marched the kilted retainer a 

 second time, venting from his inflated instrument a succession of 



