THE TWELFTH OF AUGUST. 155 



ground on others, where the heath has been burnt 

 to the stumps. On these rough braes we found a 

 good many rabbits, and killed five couple; but it 

 proved blank almost for grouse, although good 

 generally, later on in the season ; and here we 

 only got three birds. 



Farther on, the ground looked better ; but the 

 heather was still too rank, and we only found old 

 birds, and managed three brace. Here Ward made 

 very good work, and twice wiped my eye, which 

 I only half liked, as I have a fancy for wild shots ; 

 indeed, he killed here five of the six birds. On 

 and on to still higher ground; but it was now 

 plain that to make a bag we must seek the lower 

 moors, so we turned down by a " slantindicular " 

 route. 



On the way downwards, it was curious to see 

 how Mel manoeuvred the ground so as to catch 

 the scent. She displayed her tactics by making 

 long casts to the right and left, then tacking 

 towards us and working the ground beautifully. 

 In this way she found birds several times before 

 we got down to the low moors; but being old 

 birds, they did not sit as we came right in sight 

 of them. When near the flat, Dick's sharp eye 



