OF SHOOTING AND FISHING © 205 
ters to our horses we made our way to the lick 
and then took the game trail for camp. My desire 
for fine wapiti heads had been inspired by the pic- 
tures in Baillie-Grohman’s book on ‘‘Sport and 
Life in the West,’’ and it certainly was a come- 
down to return with my record. I had never read 
an account of any one killing a spike or a hind, so 
felt rather disgusted. 
It was getting dark when five blue grouse rose 
beside us and settled upon a tree twenty yards 
away, four side by side on one branch and one 
above. I dismounted, and going underneath shot 
them all with my rifle, one after the other. The 
only grouse I have seen in the west which could 
not be easily shot with a catapult is the willow 
grouse, and with a twenty-two pistol the larder can 
be kept supplied in most places. 
C. had returned to camp before me, not hav- 
ing seen anything better than a spike all day. 
We had a splendid supper; the grouse were deli- 
cious. I had shot them well forward, otherwise 
they would have been blown to atoms. As any one 
with a slight Indian experience knows, birds cooked 
shortly after being killed are tender, and this is 
worth remembering in all hot countries. ' After 
dinner, we sat by the fire and discussed the situa- 
tion. I was very much disappointed with the elk 
shooting, not so much with killing the hind as 
with shooting the spike. C. decided to take a 
couple of pack horses the next morning, and with 
Fayler, visit the lick and the country where we 
had been; while Jackson, the cook, W., and my- 
