GROUSE AND BLACK -GAME SHOOTING. 



GROUSE-SHOOTING, when the season begins, and our moors are 

 thronged by ardent sportsmen from all parts of the kingdom, 

 although requiring some tact and skill, is mere child's-play 

 compared to what it becomes when the birds are wild and 

 wary. 



In the month of August or September, a few general rules 

 may enable a good shot, upon a tolerable moor, to load his 

 game -carrier. He should commence upon the farthest end of 

 his range, giving his dogs the wind, and select some part 

 of the moor, near the centre, to which he must endeavour to 

 drive all his packs. His follower should be a good marker, 1 

 active and intelligent in comprehending his least signal, and 

 always ready, when the dogs point, to place himself so as to 

 prevent the birds taking a wrong direction. After having 

 skirmished in this 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 



1 In marking grouse, when you can no longer distinguish them from the brown 

 heather, still let your eye follow their course, as the napping of their wings when 

 they light is much longer discernible than the rapid motion of their flight. 



