16 GAME BIRDS AND SHOOTING-SKETCHES 



came as near evincing anything like hurry that I ever saw 

 one do. He never looked to see if he could get a clear 

 flight above him. for I was under the tree and there was a 



o 



dense spruce-fir on the other side, so he made two blunder- 

 ing ineffectual attempts to force his way upwards, before he 

 eventually came to the conclusion that the orthodox method 

 adopted by his ancestors was the only reliable manner in 

 which to escape. This he succeeded in doing so well that 

 I thought at first he was going to break my head as he came 

 bowling down at me, so that I involuntarily dodged out of 

 the way. The effect of a bird like a cock Caper, weighing 

 as he does from nine to twelve pounds, striking a man 

 would l)e very damaging, when a small bird like a Grouse, 

 weighing a little less than two pounds, is sufficient to stun 

 a man or knock him head over heels. (There was an 

 account in a sporting paper lately of a man who had been 

 knocked over whilst the bird spitted itself two feet down 

 the barrel of his gun.) At any rate, some very near 

 shaves are seen at times of shooters being struck by them, 

 and I should be sorry to be the one on whom such 

 retribution falls. 



At the commencement and during stormy weather, 

 Capers are very unsettled and are constantly on the wing. 

 This applies more to the birds in the higher ridges and 

 open larch- woods ; and should the gale be of any duration, 

 they will resort to the thick cover on the low grounds, 

 even though they have to travel considerable distances to 

 such places. During the last week of November 1888 a 

 friend of mine, who was most anxious to shoot a brace of 

 Capers, went to Murthly, to try and procure them, which, 

 under ordinary circumstances, would have been a certainty, 



