220 SHOOTING. 



The best time for partridge shooting is from two hours after 

 sun-rise until eleven o'clock ; and from half-past three o'clock 



well as myself, nor did they at first seem to relish the diversion ; they 

 run in to the first pack or brood, and raised it out of distance ; six dark- 

 coloured birds rose, and, skimming over the top of the heath, were 

 quickly out of my sight ; indeed, in colour they appeared so nearly to 

 approximate the ling over which they flew that they proved a puzzling 

 mark for me when they were completely within gun-shot. More birds 

 were raised in a similar manner ; and I soon discotered that grouse must 

 be approached with much more caution than partridges ; I also found 

 that they rose in a different manner, and that the sport was not at all 

 similar to that of the midland counties. 



?' I was extremely anxious (as you may suppose, Mr. Editor) to kill a 

 bird : I fired six shots, and had the mortification to see the birds uni- 

 formly fly away ; indeed, when I pulled the trigger I was always in 

 doubt, for I could not discern the object half so clearly as if a partridge 

 had been before me. I met, at length, with several grouse not half 

 grown, and was fortunate enough to break the wing of one of these 

 squeakers ! I seized the prize with eagerness, but it was very young, 

 very small, unsatisfactory in every point of view, and only served to in- 

 crease my vexation. I began to lament that I had visited the moors ; 

 that I had made so long a journey to seek a diversion which now appeared 

 to me so inferior to what might be obtained at home ; and, to add to my 

 ehagrin, while making these irksome reflections, I happened to get in- 

 gulphed in a bog nearly up to my middle ! I could not help venting my 

 grief aloud ; I cursed my own folly for having taken a journey of two 

 hundred miles, which I now conceived could not fail to end in the bit- 

 terest disappointment. With the assistance of my attendant and guide, 

 I got tolerably well cleared from the wet and filth which adhered to my 

 clothes when I emerged from the bog, and I hesitated for some minutes 

 whether or not to quit the mountains, and immediately return home : 

 the idea that my friends would have the laugh against me alone deter- 

 mined me to continue for some time longer upon these dreary and un- 

 cultivated wilds. 



An hour or two elapsed, during which I fired repeatedly, but was 

 not fortunate enough to bring down a bird. Arrived at a spring of fine 

 clear water, I sat down in despair, determined, after taking a little re- 

 freshment, to leave the moors and return home. I had been walking 



