230 SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



as they are by the unscrupulousness of the receivers 

 of stolen and illegally killed game in the large towns, 

 are after all the things most to be guarded against, and 

 I have endeavoured to indicate how I think they may 

 best be combated. I have before me a working model 

 of the nets used in Yorkshire, with poles, clips &c. 

 complete, as well as a fair selection of specimens of 

 snares ; but I think that the accurate description of 

 how all such engines should be used is against the 

 interests of sport, and may serve only to encourage 

 poaching by diffusing the science of how to do it. 

 Wherever there is good moorland, well watered and 

 with plenty of sheltered places, there ought to be a 

 good stock of grouse. Laziness is much more 

 common among hill keepers than where population 

 is more dense, while the climate of Scotch glens, 

 especially on the west coast, tends to enervate men. 

 The great antidote for this is to be constantly on the 

 high ground in the fresher air, as you will discover for 

 yourself during a long stay in Scotland. Your head 

 man should, therefore, see that his assistants are con- 

 stantly on the moor looking after the welfare of the 

 birds ; instead of giving way, as they often do, to the 

 temptation of merely gazing at it from below all day, 

 and leaving it to take care of itself all night. 



The great and mysterious plague known as the 



