THE MANNERS OF THE GROUSE 29 



bird well, and paid no attention to him, nor did he to 

 the shots that were fired close to him. But not so my 

 retriever. He began by thinking it was his manifest 

 duty to bring the bird to me ; but, on being duly 

 warned, and on seeing the grouse trying to get to close 

 quarters to ram him, so to speak, with his spurs, a 

 feeling of alarm, droll to see, came over the dog. 

 Evidently he concluded he had to deal with some- 

 thing quite new to him, possibly a demented grouse. 

 Another day I fell in with my friend a mile from this 

 spot, and having two dogs with me, it was as much as 

 I could do to beat a hasty retreat into a thick wood, 

 so anxious was he to have a sparring match with one 

 or other of the dogs. 



' This bird has now taken up his quarters close to a 

 house, a mile from the place he was reared, remaining 

 just as tame, and coming regularly for his breakfast. 

 The two others remain about the lodge, in the court- 

 yard, in the garden, and frequently come in at the 

 servants' dinner-time to pick up anything that may be 

 thrown to them. They have induced one wild bird 

 to come down off the moor, and this bird is now 

 fairly tame that is to say, he will let one get within a 

 few yards of him. When, by the way, it pleased 

 Master Grouse to join us out shooting, if by chance a 

 spaniel came suddenly upon him, he was not in the 



