96 GAME BIRDS AND SHOOTING-SKETCHES 



only way in which they can be got, when the ground does 

 not admit of driving. When they first commence to feed 

 on the corn they are most tame and unsophisticated, and it 

 is not until they have been frequently disturbed at their 

 feeding -grounds, and the winter season has well advanced, 

 that they again assume their naturally shy disposition. I 

 have often seen them, when fired at with both barrels and 

 coming straight at the gun, complacently alight within ten 

 yards of their would-be destroyer, and give him time to 

 reload and do some more shooting as they moved off 

 again. 



Comparatively speaking, in the Highlands, but little 

 systematic shooting of Blackgame over dogs takes place, 

 except where the birds move off the ground at a later 

 season, or where the ground is of such a rough and wild 

 nature that driving cannot be performed with success. 

 The sport cannot be said to be good, unless we consider 

 the pleasure of watching the dogs working, which is 

 always delightful, and therefore the birds should be left 

 till a season when they will be both more fit to shoot and 

 afford infinitely better sport. And after a few seasons, 

 when driving has become the usual thing, the birds, even 

 in the early part of the season, will soon become very shy, 

 rendering the shooting over dogs a matter of uncertainty, 

 so that the sportsman who owns good Blackgame -ground 

 must take his choice between the two forms of sport and 

 please himself; but he will do wisely by choosing the 

 latter, for he will thereby kill off a large number of the 

 old and useless birds, and give a chance of getting the 

 younger birds to breed, which are in reality in their prime, 

 though they are not able to hold their own in the battles 



