BLACKGAME 87 



gives dignity to their appearance when flying in company 

 with Grouse or Pheasants. It is so collected and cool 

 beside the hurried and noisy flight of other kinds, and 

 seems to be performed without any apparent effort, which 

 adds greatly to its buoyancy. On the other hand, before 

 the Blackcock has attained the elevation necessary for his 

 proper flight, when rising from a flat surface or out of a 

 hollow, his efforts to rise are accompanied by a display of 

 clumsiness and noise that even his inferiors in flight would 

 be ashamed of creating. But he has often the satisfaction 

 of knowing that his life has been saved by the demoral- 

 ising effect which he has caused in the heart of the young 

 shooter fresh " frae the toon," to whose flurried senses he 

 will have appeared in the guise of the catharine-wheel 

 cock pheasant that so terrified poor Mr. Briggs of Punch 

 fame. 



When once fairly started, unless the cause of alarm is 

 very near, he will swing round with head to wind at once, 

 or at any angle across it that occurs to him ; but he will 

 seldom proceed to any distance down the wind, owing 

 to the discomfort of having his curly tail blown about, 

 to which he apparently has the very greatest objection. 

 If scared by coming suddenly on the boxes, should a 

 strong wind be blowing in their faces, I have often seen 

 them retreat for a short distance down wind after being 

 shot at, and then, having made up their minds that their 

 fears were not half so bad as the attendant discomforts 

 of an ignominious retreat, come on again recklessly, even 

 though they have seen their companions fall at their 

 first attempt to run the gauntlet. 



Blackgame can fly a greater distance than any of the 



