BLACKGAME. 89 



bag. Thus the excuse is sometimes made, with a vacuous 

 grin, " You know, somebody else might get them." Well, 

 let somebody else have them, and welcome, if he cares for 

 them, and can derive either pride or pleasure from turning 

 out a sackful of bloodstained pulpy remains, useless alike for 

 sport or the spit, and far more resembling dish-clouts than 

 game-birds. The worst offenders in this respect are the 

 semi-respectable gentry who rent " moors " of, say, 100 (!) 

 acres, with the deliberate intention, as soon as the adjoining 

 owner is out of sight and hearing, of slipping over the bound- 

 ary, where they can pillage and massacre to their heart's 

 content. From such one expects nothing better, and one 

 knows how to deal with them ; but truth compels me to add 

 that the malpractice is not confined to them. 



By the middle of September the young Blackcocks are nearly 

 full-grown, and about three parts black, with spreading tails. 

 At that period they separate themselves from the young Grey- 

 hens of the brood, and for a time become quite solitary. 

 Being then scattered singly over a wide extent of rough 

 country, they are less easy to find than to get at, for, though 

 nearly full-sized, they lie extremely close in beds of bracken 

 and rushes, or in the " white grass " or patches of heather. 

 Towards dusk they begin to feed on the seeds of rushes, 

 especially the " spratt " or flowering rush, and being then 

 temporarily gathered together, are much wilder than during 

 the day. They continue " on feed" till it is quite dark. 



This (mid- September) is the season when young Black- 

 game afford by far the finest sport over dogs; for though 

 they lie close and offer easy shots, they require a great deal 

 of hunting for, and a bag of perhaps eight or ten brace of 

 well-grown handsome young birds, varied by a few brace of 

 moor-partridge, and an odd grouse or two picked up on the 

 outskirts of the heather, is a very satisfactory day's work. 

 This is the time to gather up one's " crop " of Blackgame. 



Their next stage is to assemble in packs about the end of 

 September or early in October, sooner or later according to 

 the season, cocks and hens together, often a hundred strong. 

 These packs make descents at daybreak and dusk upon the 

 scattered patches of oat-stubbles in the valleys and spend 

 the day, perhaps miles away, among the hills, preferring the 



