164 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



they are on the wing, and allowed to attain a 

 considerable elevation before the grouse is flushed. 

 The dogs are still motionless, or perhaps occasion- 

 ally avert their steady gaze for a moment from 

 the crouching bird, and cast a hasty glance up- 

 wards. At last the falconer kicks up the grouse, 

 who flies away at his best speed with the hawks 

 close behind him. Away too go the falconer and 

 the colonel. Who thinks of ' down charge ' at 

 such a moment, or who could expect the dogs to 

 practise such self-denial when their preceptors 

 have set them so bad an example ? Away go the 

 dogs also, each pursuer anxious to be in at the 

 death, and valuable allies do they prove. The 

 falcons and their quarry have disappeared over 

 the brow of a hill, and the setters are out 

 of sight, for the sportsmen are far behind. At 

 last on arriving at an elevated spot they see 

 a wide valley beyond them ; but where is the 

 grouse ? and where are the hawks ? The chace 

 is over, for the far-sighted falconer can see 

 nothing of the birds in the air. He now scans 

 the heather below, and soon perceives old Platoff, 

 with tail extended and rigid as a statue, backed 

 by his companion. Hurrying down until within 

 a moderate distance, he utters the well-known 

 shout, and tosses his lure aloft ; while he now 

 cautiously advances towards the spot where, half 



