CONTENTS. Xlll 



Page 



larger gun requisite. Minute rules for the sport at this time. 

 Black-game. Old cocks. Their food. Apt to seek the shade of 

 brackens. Their wildness. How to get a shot at them on the 

 stubbles. When the fields become bare. Shooting them in 

 covert, ........ 101 



PTARMIGAN SHOOTING 



Lofty mountains of the West. Ptarmigan more numerous in the 

 North, and the hills of far easier access. Boyish expedition after 

 Ptarmigan. Another sporting-day on Ben Voirla, . .120 



DOGS FOR THE MOORS 



Most efficient dog for grouse. How to choose one. Close rangers 

 abjured. One pair of pointers enough at a time, if first-rate. 

 Faults and defects of dogs. Care in the breeding, . .128 



INSTINCT OF DOGS 135 



ROE-HUNTING 



Habits, manner of shooting, &c. Bungled roe-hunt. Sylph step of the 

 roe. Cautions. Fox-hounds best dogs to run them out of covert. 

 Small belts. Bloodhounds. The roe's sagacity. Its dislike 

 to the fallow-deer. Two islands on Loch Lomond full of roes. 

 Their loch-passes. Capturing them in boats. Tame roe, . 145 



THE ALPINE OR WHITE HARE 



IN SUMMER CALLED " THE BLUE HARE " 



Its playful look when started. Times of changing colour. The 

 brightness or dinginess of its coat a criterion of the severity or 

 mildness of the winter. Eagle and hill-hare. Strong position 

 of the Alpine hare in presence of the foe. Miniature stalking. 

 Great increase of hill-hares. Their snow-burrows, . .154 



WOODCOCKS AND SNIPES 



Regularity of flight. Prefer open ground at first. Come to the 

 covert-springs at dusk. Shooting Woodcocks. Irregular belts of 

 plantation. Narrow strips. Large tangled copses on the steep 

 hillside. Woodcocks breed in the islands of Loch Lomond. 

 Their evening flight. Mire Snipes. Jacks, . . .160 



