102 GROUSE AND BLACK -GAME SHOOTING. 



tins way until about two or three o'clock, he may send 

 for a fresh couple of his oldest and most experienced 

 dogs, and, with the greatest care, begin to beat this 

 reserved ground. If the day is favourable, and he has 

 not strangely mismanaged, he ought to make bloody 

 work. Should his range be along the steep side of a 

 mountain, the birds are much less likely to leave the 

 ground ; when raised, they will probably (unless he is 

 beating up and down the hill, which is neither an easy 

 nor good way) fly straight along the mountain-side, and 

 the young grouse-shooter might suppose would drop down 

 upon a line with the place they rose from. But no such 

 thing : the pack, after getting out of sight, before lighting 

 will take a turn, and fly a considerable way either to the 

 right or left. The sportsman must judge by the wind,* 

 nature of the ground, &c., which direction they have 

 taken : if he can see the way their heads are turned just 

 when going out of sight, he may also form a shrewd guess; 

 but if he does not find them on the one side, he must try 

 the other. Should he have the whole of a detached hill, 

 even if a small range, the birds are so unwilling to leave it 

 at the beginning of the season that they will often fly 

 round and round until he has completely broken them : no 

 finer opportunity than this for filling the bag. Early in 

 the season, when an unbroken pack is found at evening 

 feed, if the birds do not rise together, too much care 



* If high, grouse are very apt to fly with it, unless they have some 

 stronger motive to the contrary. 



