GROUSE. 141 



thatched cottage, where keepers with numerous dogs in lash 

 awaited oar arrival. 



Now chaff and fun had to be given up, for we were about 

 to begin the serious business of the day, and our host, an 

 unwavering enthusiast, led us out of the wood, across a 

 patch of rocky ground, through a gap in a stone wall, and 

 there we were on the breezy hillside, knee deep in heather, 

 breathing such nectar as dwellers in towns never dream of, 

 with in front a limitless expanse of mountain and moorland 

 undisturbed as far as the eye could see by a trace of civiliza- 

 tion. " Can this mighty, uninhabited expanse be in the over- 

 crowded British Isles ? " I wondered ; but my host " sniffed 

 the scent of battle afar off," and stopped all musing by an 

 imperative " Come along ! " 



Our first position was behind a broken-down stone wall, 

 where the keeper dropped us some seventy-five yards apart, 

 and with our faces all to the eastward whence the birds 

 were to be driven up. This turned out to be but a poor sort 

 of cover, for though the wall in front of each shooter had 

 been built up to serve him the better, yet to be out of sight 

 it was necessary to sit or crouch down, either of which 

 positions are fatal to good, rapid shooting. The best screen 

 in driving game is always found to be one that comes up to 

 the neck of the shooter when standing, thus allowing him 

 to turn rapidly and give him a clear shot in every direc- 

 tion. We occupied our " marks," such as they were, and 

 making ourselves comfortable awaited in silence the arrival 

 of the first bird, amusing ourselves meanwhile with our 

 delightful surroundings numberless mountains fringing in 

 an amphitheatre of purple moor, all rugged and grand, some 

 just tipped with snow at the highest points, and gleaming 

 silver where the sun lay upon them, and purple in the 

 shadows of the ravines. The wind from these snow-fields, 

 now that we had no trees to shelter us, was as cool and 

 fresh as it could be, sweeping over the wide expanse of 

 moors, and bringing to our ears the far away bleat of mown- 



