BLACK GAME 343 



in the heather, until they are sure there is not. But black game 

 offer very easy shots, and consequently sportsmen rather despise 

 them in this early stage. Then, on a sudden, a total change 

 comes over the young birds, as it were in a night, and they are 

 transformed into birds as wary as wild geese, and sit up on the 

 hillocks to watch for danger. After that they must be stalked, 

 driven, or left alone. 



Stalking black game with a rook rifle is nice sport infinitely 

 more difficult than stalking red deer. With the shot gun it is 

 still harder, because of the necessity of a nearer approach. 

 But difficult as it is, the author once knew of a most extra- 

 ordinary stalk. Two guns, unknown to each other, both stalked 

 from different directions the same black cock on his fir tree; 

 both, by luck or judgment, got up to the game ; each fired at 

 the same instant, and when the game fell, each unaware that 

 the other had shot, claimed the bird. If that sort of thing can 

 be done, it cannot be very difficult. But probably it never 

 happened before or since, and as a matter of fact it is difficult 

 to stalk black game. 



If these birds were really plentiful they would be the most 

 valued of all our game birds for driving. Probably there is not 

 a pin to choose between their pace and that of grouse when 

 coming down wind. The author has watched them coming to 

 the butts together for half a mile, and the only difference was 

 that the black cock were two storeys higher than the grouse. 

 That shows which would be most appreciated by sportsmen, 

 who are never happy unless they are accomplishing the difficult. 

 But they are too few to drive separately in most places, and do 

 not drive well with grouse. It would have been no uncommon 

 thing had those third-storey birds turned back in the air and gone 

 off over the drivers' heads while the silly grouse were facing the 

 music of the butts and dying in clouds of smoke, for this refer- 

 ence is to black powder days. Your black game can think in 

 the air, like the wild ducks, and they can also fly into a wind 

 about as fast as with one, again imitating the marvellous and 

 unexplained power of some wild fowl, especially the teal. 

 Pheasants, partridges, and grouse are creatures of the wind 



