32 GAME BIRDS AND SHOOTING-SKETCHES 



lunch that day we had twenty of these magnificent birds 

 laid out on the hillside, besides other game ; and what a 

 laugh we had at one member of our party who insisted on 

 claiming a large portion of the bag as his share, he 

 having, previous to our start in the morning, confided to 

 our host's son that he had never handled a gun in his life, 

 and from whose cartridges the latter and myself took the 

 precaution to abstract the shot for the safety of the com- 

 munity ! After lunch we had another ten or fifteen birds. 

 This would be considered a very good day at Capers, 

 though as many as seventy have been killed in one 

 day on the Do wager -Duchess of Athole's ground near 

 Dunkeld. 



When driving woods for Capercaillie it is necessary 

 that strict silence should be observed whilst the guns are 

 being posted. Many a good beat has been spoilt by 

 neglect of this precaution. The host should do his best to 

 impress this on his guests before starting, and convince 

 them that their own sport as well as that of all the rest 

 may depend on their cessation of talking when moving to 

 their posts, and quietness on their arrival there. No bird 

 takes alarm more easily or is more quickly on the alert 

 when danger is suspected than the Capercaillie, and being- 

 gifted with a more than tolerably level head for a bird, he 

 comes to the conclusion (having turned over the state of 

 affairs in his mind) that there is as much danger to him in 

 proceeding forward as in breaking back. 



Besides his natural watchfulness, the nature of his 

 dwelling-place also helps to keep him in comparative 

 safety. The crack of a rotten stick or falling of a fir-cone 

 is heard to a very considerable distance in the still, echoing 



