CHAP, xxxvi.] VARIETY OF GAME. 277 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



Variety of Game. 



THE list of game killed by my own gun on the 21st of October, 

 appears in my game-book to have been as follows : 



Grouse 6 



Partridge 13 



Woodcock 1 



Pheasant 1 



Wild duck 1 



Snipe 4 



Teal 1 



Curlew 3 



Plover 4 



Jacksnipe 2 



Hare 5 



Rabbit 2 



Though the number of animals in this list may not seem great 

 to many of my sporting friends in England and Scotland, a 

 prettier variety of game could scarcely be killed by one gun in 

 any single locality, and the whole of them were shot during a 

 few hours' walk, anil in a most stormy and windy day. J had 

 promised to send a hamper of game to a friend in Edinburgh, 

 and knowing that he would prize it more if I could make up a 

 variety than if I sent him double the quantity of any one kind, I 

 determined to hunt a wild part of my shooting-ground, where I 

 should have a chance of finding ducks, snipes, &c. 



I started after breakfast with a single pointer, and my ever- 

 lasting companion, an old retriever. As the steam-boat for 

 Edinburgh started the next day, I was obliged, though the wind 

 blew nearly a hurricane, to make the best of it, and face the wind 

 in the dreary and upland ground, which I had determined to beat, 

 and where I had sent an attendant to meet me. 



