232 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



share of the sport as soon as it was once 

 firmly established, the experiment might be 

 tried at once. If they would abstain for a few 

 seasons from shooting down any stray poult that 

 might wander into their beats, how amply would 

 they be recompensed for their forbearance ! 

 There need be no excuse of mistaking the im- 

 mature bird for a young pheasant ; still less for 

 a partridge ; the shortness of the tail, on the one 

 hand ; and on the other, the length of the neck 

 which is protruded in flight after the manner 

 of a wild duck ought to be sufficient to pre- 

 vent the chance of such a mishap ; and in a few 

 years they might with due regard to sex 

 venture to pull the trigger without any conscien- 

 tious scruples, and congratulate themselves on 

 having been instrumental not only in making a 

 most valuable addition to the local list of game 

 birds, but in introducing one of the finest and 

 most palatable species of grouse into their own 

 larders* 



