DRIVING THE COVERS. 239 



turned off by a steep path leading through a larch 

 plantation, then over the moor to the black wood, 

 and, crossing a deep gully, we pushed through bush 

 and fern until we came to an open part of the cover 

 where the stations were to be fixed for the first drive. 

 Here the guns were judiciously posted from eighty 

 to a hundred yards apart, and so placed that no one 

 could be hit with the shot of another the final orders 

 being that on no account should any one leave his 

 post until the beaters had finished the drive and 

 come up. Nothing was to be fired at for this beat 

 except roe and capercailzie ; even black game and 

 woodcock must go scatheless ; a fox might be shot if 

 any one had a chance. 



The post fixed for myself was a hollow in rather an 

 open part of the wood, where I presently arranged a 

 neat ambush amongst some tall fern and behind a 

 piece of rock about breast high, which commanded a 

 tolerably clear space in front, while the wood on 

 either side was sufficiently open to afford a fair chance 

 at any passing game. So, with large shot cartridges 

 in the barrels of my gun, I waited patiently. 



When alone and ambushed in the silence of the 

 woods, the ear soon becomes almost painfully acute, 

 the rustle of a field mouse, or the movement of any 



