WARD GRUMBLES AT OUR INACTION. i9 3 



plenty of game, as the ground was hitherto 

 untouched ; so we at once buckled-to for work, and 

 started. 



Major Duncan and Ward went round by the 

 south end of the loch to try for teal, and then to 

 IK 'itt over the black moss ; while Fred and I pro- 

 ceeded to hunt the slopes to the north, and we 

 saw nothing more of the other party for four or 

 five hours, when we met, as agreed upon, on the 

 hill close to the black game country. 



We soon found grouse : they were somewhat 

 wild, and the scent indifferent, still, the sport was 

 excellent; and, when we met our friends, Fred 

 and I counted for eighteen brace of grouse, five 

 golden plovers, and a hare ; while they had twenty- 

 three and a -half brace of grouse, three hares, a teal, 

 and (great luck) two curlews. We rested a quarter 

 of an hour on a rising ground facing the ranges 

 for black game, looking on a wide expanse of 

 choice cover. In the hollow a brawling burn runs 

 down the glen, the foaming water glinting here 

 and there between the birch and alders fringing 

 its banks, beyond which, the hills on right and 

 left slope gradually up to the top; in some parts 

 open moor, and in others varied with birch, juniper, 



o 



