GROUSE SHOOTING. 417 



preparation ! The march is sounded, and away 

 they wend an emulous band, each endeavouring 

 to eclipse the other in the number and size of birds 

 killed. On that day there is an universal scramble 

 for game ; almost every person who carries a gun 

 then strives to fill his bird-bag, to the exclusion of 

 every other object regardless for a while of com- 

 panionship, or personal comfort, or of the " savage 

 grandeur" of the scene before him, and indifferent 

 whether an undeviating level bound his view, or 

 whether 



Lakes and mountains around him gleam misty and wide ! 



It is not until after-days of leisure, and when a 

 series of trivial adventures, or recollections of past 

 doings, have made several sites classical, if we may 

 be allowed the term, that the stranger-sportsman 

 becomes enamoured of the wilds, and shares the 

 feelings of the native hillsman, who bears the same 

 love to his mountain-home and mountain-sports, 

 as the Switzer does to his. 



We were evidently drawing on our imagination 

 for an ideal sportsman when we penned the follow- 

 ing in the Oakleigh Shooting Code ; for no such 

 determined and enthusiastic real one as is therein 

 described have we ever seen or heard of. " To the 

 shooter in training, full of health and strength, and 

 well-appointed, it is of little consequence whether 

 game be abundant or not. The inspiriting cha- 



and others which have been carelessly cleaned, the probability is, 

 that one or two cannot be let off until a quarter of an hour has been 

 spent in firing caps and clearing out the pivots. 



