128 . SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



One often meets with a drive in Scotland where 

 the grouse and black-game come over the guns at such 

 a height that no shot will reach them ; and you are 

 told that this hill is impossible to drive, as the birds 

 always do this ; nobody can kill them, and there is no 

 result. This is a wrong conclusion. It merely means 

 that the guns are not in the right place. These birds 

 must touch the ground somewhere, and when you 

 have found their point of contact with the earth, or 

 alighting place, then you have found the spot where 

 you can kill them. 



It is only with the wind or on a perfectly still day 

 that they will trust themselves thus in mid-air, and 

 then only under compulsion ; they will never attempt 

 high flights against the wind. Great as is the power 

 of their flight, and strong as their wings and tails are to 

 steer by, they have as great a horror of being caught 

 high up and rendered helpless by the wind as we 

 should have of finding ourselves striking out in the 

 rapid stream of a big river. 



Now make an experimental drive and you must 

 make many such if you wish for successful permanent 

 drives ; place a trustworthy man or two far away down 

 wind on the hillside beyond where they come so high 

 over you, and you will probably be agreeably surprised 

 to find how easy is the solution of the problem. Your 



