242 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



but do very much mind brushing the wet heather with their 

 feathers. At such times grouse are generally wild, for they 

 will not " squat " and hide, but run very much. Then they 

 usually have very good scent, the dogs find and point them a 

 long way, and then draw on and on after them as the grouse 

 run ahead. It is nevertheless just possible to get good shoot- 

 ing by two guns going well ahead, very wide of the dogs, and 

 coming back to meet the point. It is the sun, not the wind or 

 the wet, that makes grouse hide in the heather, and probably 

 the reason is that they were originally an Arctic species, and 

 can stand cold better than very hot sun. In support of this 

 view it may be said that grouse disease seems to disappear in 

 very cold weather, and moreover the red grouse are, in every- 

 thing but feather colouring and the white moult of winter, the 

 same as the willow grouse an obviously Arctic race. 



Amongst the methods of killing grouse that have almost 

 died out are first " becking," second " kiting," third " carting," 

 fourth shooting them upon the stocks, and a variety of other 

 devices for which the gun was not used, such as snaring and 

 netting. 



Some of these methods of shooting had a great deal to 

 recommend them. First of all, "becking" is the art of hiding 

 and the skill of calling the grouse in the early morning, when 

 this proud bird, exulting in his superabundance of energy, 

 rises into the air and crows defiance. He is quite ready for 

 battle, although it may not be the breeding season ; for they 

 " beck " in August, as the author has often seen and heard 

 through an open window as he lay in bed waiting for the first 

 breakfast-bell. The loss of" becking " is the loss of an automatic 

 destruction of the most unfit, namely the old cocks, which 

 are the only birds that will accept the autumnal challenge, 

 and come to make things hot for an unseen rival, whose 

 unrecognised voice sounds as if he had no right there. 



"Kiting" has little to recommend it, except that it too is 

 an automatic preservation of the hens. They for the most 

 part will not lie under the kite, but make off at its first 

 appearance upon the horizon. The stronger and bolder cocks 



