134 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



ters at the farm-house. Here the road termi- 

 nated, and all communication with the lodge 

 was carried on by means of natives from the 

 nearest village, whose limbs, unshackled by shoe 

 or stocking, displayed an enviable activity in 

 traversing the rough broken grounds ; and whose 

 light-hearted merriment and good temper con- 

 tributed not a little to the pleasures of the 

 expedition. A few of these only were selected 

 as markers, and ordered to be in their respective 

 positions among the hills before day-break on 

 the following morning ; while the rest were 

 despatched the same evening with sundry articles 

 of heavy baggage to the lodge, and instructed 

 to meet us on the morrow, with a relay of dogs, 

 near the borders of a little lough, which we 

 expected to reach early in the afternoon. 



We started with a good omen. Our breakfast 

 was hardly despatched and our guns in our hands 

 before one of the watchers, who had been in 

 position since the earliest dawn, came running 

 down with the welcome intelligence that he had 

 marked two fine packs of grouse in a neigh- 

 bouring valley, and that, while hurrying with 

 the news at his best speed, he had flushed several 

 woodcocks along the brow of the mountain. We 

 were soon at work. We had four good setters 

 with us, but two of them were led in reserve 



