104 GROUSE AND BLACK -GAME SHOOTING. 



one year on the top of the hill, another on the brow, and 

 a third on the flat at the foot, and this often without any 

 assignable reason. A man who chooses his range by rule 

 will be as likely to fix on the worst as the best. The 

 only plan, supposing he has neglected to make himself 

 acquainted with the ground before the 12th of August, is 

 to find out from the shepherds where the packs are most 

 plentiful, and concert measures accordingly. It often 

 happens that, if the hatching-time is very rainy, the best 

 packs may be found on the brow of a hill, from being less 

 exposed to the wet ; and in a dry sultry season the best 

 places to range are the flats between the hills, or even the 

 tops, if dotted with " peat-hags." * The very reverse, 

 however, may be the case if there are few mossy 

 springs or "peat-hags" on the flat or top, and if the 

 hill-side is supplied with water for the young packs by 

 a constant succession of little brooks. It is impossible 

 for a stranger to find out these minutiae without question- 

 near, I left them undisturbed for eight days. At the end of that time I 

 found and shot two of them, not at all fallen off in condition, and quite 

 large enough to count in the day's return of the slain. These poults were 

 not in company, but at a little distance from each other. It therefore 

 appears to me that their great danger is from vermin, missing the warning 

 cry of the old birds when an enemy approaches. There can be no doubt 

 of its being both cruel and destructive to the young brood to murder 

 their protectors ; but should the sportsman unfortunately do so, and not 

 discover his mistake till too late, he had better give them the chance of 

 escaping vermin than shoot them out of humanity, erroneously supposing 

 that they cannot but die of starvation. 



* Places where peats have been " cast" or dug out, in which the moss 

 water collects, and affords drink to the grouse. Sometimes these "hags" 



