242 ARDENMOHR. 



ing, and bagged one capercailzie, three head of black 

 game, a lot of hares and rabbits, and also secured the 

 first woodcock of the season, which was claimed by 

 the Laird. As was to be expected they had no roe, 

 these shy creatures being too cunning to be surprised 

 in their forms, except in very rare cases. 



The next beat was more open, and the greater part 

 of it through Scotch-fir woods, with partial under- 

 growths of bush and long heather, then on by a 

 hillside covered with broom and whins, the drive 

 finishing at the birchwood and boggy ground skirting 

 the moor. We all went with the beaters excepting 

 McKenzie and Fred, who were sent on to be posted 

 at the end of the cover. 



"We now beat through in line, but not at first with 

 much success; the wood seemed too extensive and 

 irregular, diverging away here and there to the right 

 and left, so that a great deal of game must have gone 

 off unobserved; thus only one roe, three head of 

 black game, and some half a score of hares and rabbits 

 were brought to bag here. On coming to the gorse- 

 covered hillside there was a mighty peppering of 

 rabbits, and three woodcocks were shot in the patches 

 of broom I shan't say by whose fault, but other four 

 should have been bagged. 



