260 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVI. 



Black game and grouse are obtained by the 

 poachers in great numbers late in the season, by 

 means, not only of tame call-birds of both sexes, 

 but also by a call-pipe. However wild they may 

 be and inaccessible to the fair sportsman, these 

 birds can always be brought within shot by some 

 means. A cock grouse on hearing the well-imitated 

 call of the female immediately answers it, and, 

 approaching by repeated short flights, stopping 

 every now and then to crow as if in defiance of 

 any rivals, or to give warning of his coming, is 

 soon killed. The female grouse is attracted in the 

 same manner by an imitation of the call of the 

 male. 



So pugnacious a bird as a blackcock is very 

 easy to call till he comes within shot of the con- 

 cealed shooter : and indeed partridges, and all 

 other birds, are attracted by those experienced in 

 imitating their different notes, in a manner and 

 with a facility which is quite surprising to the 

 uninitiated. 



I am told that some poachers can even allure a 

 hare within shot during a moonlight night by imi- 

 tating the cry of one of its own species : this, how- 

 ever, is a fact for which I cannot vouch ; but many 

 poachers, from constant watching and following in 

 silence these animals, acquire such a perfect know- 



