GROUSE AND BLACK-GAME SHOOTING. 85 



moor where I used, in August, to average from fifteen to 

 twenty in a whole day. 



When a moor is regularly shot over, and the large packs 

 thinned, grouse are less apt to flock early, which is often occa- 

 sioned by several large packs joining company. Late in the 

 season, before they are tamed by a frost, a windy day generally 

 produces the heaviest game-bag to a good quick shot. When 

 his dog points, the sportsman has generally a shrewd idea 

 where to expect the pack, as they collect behind rocks and 

 hillocks, most frequently on the lee side. They keep all to- 

 gether, so there is no danger of stragglers ; and as they do not 

 hear so well in windy weather, he may often pop upon them 

 close enough for a capital right-and-left. 



An indifferent or poking shot should choose a sunny calm 

 day at this time of the year; for although birds rise at a 

 longer distance, yet their flight is so much slower than during 

 a breeze of wind, that the length of the shot to him, in both 

 cases, would most likely be pretty much upon a par. Added 

 to which, in windy weather, they are apt to fly as twisting 

 and irregular as snipe. 



In a breezy day, never range near those parts of your 

 marches where the wind strikes fair from your own to the 

 adjoining moor. If you do, most of the birds will fly out of 

 your bounds, notwithstanding every effort to intercept them. 



The Perthshire grouse are much smaller and darker in 

 colour than those of Argyleshire. The West Highlander is of 

 a beautiful rich red, and very large. Grouse are never so 

 plentiful on the west coast, from the wet springs addling so 

 many of the eggs. This deficiency in quantity is the reason 

 of the superior quality of the Argyleshire birds, it being a 

 never - failing rule that, when ground is over -stocked, the 

 creatures deteriorate. In the low corn districts, such as 

 Lanarkshire, Eenfrewshire, and the Border counties, the grouse 

 are a very light brown, borrowing a tint from the stubbles on 

 which they delight to feed. Snaring grouse in these counties 



