GROUSE SHOOTING. 415 



the time by their watches, and not by the house 

 clock, which may have a way of going peculiar to 

 itself,) and to be on the ground before four, as the 

 greatest number of birds are killed between four 

 and six, and when there are many contesting for 

 the prize it is folly to throw away a chance. If 

 the moor is strictly preserved, and no guns are 

 expected but their own, they determine not to dis- 

 turb the birds until seven or eight, since birds lie 

 better during the day when not disturbed early in 

 the morning.* This question being disposed of, 



* " Hunting for grouse during the basking hour of the clay is 

 rigidly prohibited by all gentlemen who compile sporting directories, 

 and yet every shooter knows that at those proscribed hours himself 

 is commonly on the moors. Morning and evening, when the birds 

 are on foot in search of food, is undoubtedly preferable to the duller 

 portion of the day, when they are accustomed to indulge in a siesta, 

 but generally some considerable distance must be travelled before 

 the sportsman can reach his beat from his quarters, the morning is 

 consumed on horseback or in the shooting cart, the same road must 

 be again accomplished before night, and hence the middle of the day 

 is necessarily the portion devoted to pursuit of game. 



" To find the birds, when, satisfied with food, they leave the moor 

 to bask in some favourite haunt, requires both patience and experi- 

 ence, and here the mountain-bred sportsman proves his superiority 

 over the less practised shooter. The packs then lie closely, and oc- 

 cupy a small surface on some sunny brow or sheltered hollow. The 

 best nosed dogs will pass within a few yards and not acknowledge 

 them ; and patient hunting, with every advantage of the wind, must 

 be employed to enable the sportsman to find grouse at this dull hour. 



" But if close and judicious hunting be necessary, the places to be 

 beaten are comparatively few, and the sportsman's eye readily detects 

 the spot where the pack is sure to be discovered. He leaves the 

 open feeding grounds for heathery knowes and sheltered valleys; 

 and while the uninitiated wearies his dogs in vain over the hill-side, 

 where the birds, hours before, might have been expected, the older 

 sportsman profits by his experience, and seldom fails in discovering 

 the dell or hillock, where, in fancied security, the indolent pack is 

 reposing." Wild Sports of the West. 



