GROUSE. 135 



cock of the woods himself rises boldly from the midst of his 

 harem, shooting up for the tree tops above with a speed and 

 ease wonderful in such a bird. It is a fair chance. I follow 

 his flight for a moment, and then with a crack the report 

 resounds through the wood, followed after a moment by a 

 heavy rush from above, and a thump on the ground. We 

 rush up, and there lies the gigantic capercailzie in his final 

 struggles on the beaten snow, which he is tinging with a 

 crimson stain. I feel reasonably proud, as he is in the best of 

 condition, and will make a display when he is got home. 

 But that is a somewhat arduous task. He is about the size 

 of a medium fat turkey, much too big for the game-bag ; so 

 his feet are tied together, and he is slung behind, where he 

 rides comfortably enough for the time being. 



Then on again to pick up another, if possible. But now, 

 the ice having been broken, the dog is sent a-hunting for 

 whatever he may find, and I am all ready for the next 

 chance, which comes pretty soon in the form of a nimble 

 mountain rabbit springing from a shelter of fir branch on 

 the ground, and making off up hill closely followed by that 

 graceless dog of mine. 



However, it distances him in a yard or two, getting out 

 of sight for a moment among the boulders, appears again 

 higher up the hillside, where a sharp shot stops it all of a 

 sudden ; its four-footed pursuer running in and proceeding to 

 mumble it in a way that earns him a well-deserved reproof. 

 After all the sound of a gun is out of place in these soli- 

 tudes. The report, shut in by the close barriers on either 

 side, echoes and re-echoes in a startling manner on every 

 hand. Were the heavy sound which desecrates the hillside 

 to call forth some monstrous shape or old world vision, one 

 would hardly be surprised, so ancient and solemn is this 

 abode of silence, with the long tawny lichens hanging in 

 ghostly lacework from the warped and stunted firs and 

 shattered rocks, rolled down from above, like disjointed 

 masonry, taking strange shapes of turrets and witches' caves 



