GROUSE SHOOTING. 33 



midst of the wildest districts may now be found de- 

 tached spots of culture. Here the grouse, instead of 

 feeding on the odorous heath- tops, and other aromatic 

 mountain-plants picked from beneath the snow, will 

 migrate for their winter's food to these grounds and 

 enclosures ; where, before the grain is cleared off, 

 they will rob the crops of the husbandman, and 

 obtain a liberal supply. Where the grain, in the 

 midst of December snows, still lags out, the stooks 

 invariably might be seen crowded with grouse. In 

 the lower lands they arrive as gleaners, and hunt for 

 that which has been scattered and left in the stubble, 

 or even in the ploughed fields. The birds that feed 

 thus on grain are esteemed by no means of so de- 

 lectable a flavour as those that pasture on the delicate 

 young heather. Not a tenth of the number of birds 

 formerly seen are now observed, save, as we have 

 said, in the remoter wastes and solitudes ; and the 

 shyness and wariness of those that remain, render 

 them difficult, nay, well nigh impossible of approach. 

 Their plumage mingles with the dark brown moss 

 and heath in such unbroken uniformity, as to deceive 

 the eye of the most practised sportsman : the pointer 

 is his best friend and assistant in the discovery of 

 grouse which have been at all disturbed by the sports- 

 man, however superior and more attractive may be 

 the dash of the setter among the blue heath in the 

 early part of the season. 



The red grouse pairs very early in the year, even, 

 in a mild month, in January. The female begins to 



