GROUSE-BECKING 69 



Cumberland, and Westmoreland, if not in other 

 counties, ' becking ' for grouse is or was recognised as 

 a highly entertaining sport, and frequently put into 

 exercise, though it has latterly fallen into disuse. 

 Still no old-fashioned keeper in Lakeland or on the 

 Border thinks anything of getting a brace or two of 

 grouse for his master's larder by ' becking.' Lots of 

 stirring stories about this sport are told by the reserved 

 dalesmen ; but they are shy of favouring strangers 

 with their confidences, and any irregularities that they 

 happen to allude to, are sure to have happened to some 

 acquaintance, for they are too sharp to willingly com- 

 promise themselves. 



One of the most successful of latter-day fowlers 

 was a ' proper poacher,' who chiefly resided in Durham 

 and Northumberland, working at his trade as a miner. 

 Cumberland was his native county, and he came home 

 occasionally in order to indulge in a spell of poaching 

 on his favourite preserves, the keeper in charge being 

 his particular enemy. One fine morning late in autumn, 

 when a sharp frost had just set in, the ' proper poacher ' 

 rose betimes and shook himself, after which he strolled 

 off to the hill, a moor near Crossfell, to call grouse. 

 The weather was so specially propitious that he felt 

 certain of some exciting sport, nor was he disappointed. 

 He had no sooner arrived at his hiding place, and ' got 



