304 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



tries for a double shot) at which he means to fire. This is 

 even more apparent when a promising beginner is shooting 

 over dogs. He may knock down partridge after partridge 

 should they spring singly, but at the first covey will often 

 make a dead miss ! 



Avoiding the questio vexata whether more " skill " is shown 

 in killing down our national bird by the help of dogs or with 

 the aid of beaters, I would simply ask whether shooting to 

 dogs or with beaters affords the best chance of a day's healthy 

 exercise ? Our fathers were indeed sorry walkers if, in a day 

 on the hills, they did not cover far more ground than any 

 grouse-driver " walking from position to position " possibly 

 could ; but let it be granted that the driving sportsman has 

 plenty sharp marches from one shooting stance to another, 

 there is nothing more injurious to the strongest constitution 

 than frequent cold rests after brisk hilly walks ; and it is 

 these constant heats and cools that make our hill shepherds 

 proverbially " short-lived." 



It is a frequent grumble among sheep-farmers and shep- 

 herds that the whole Highlands will soon be under deer. 

 The stalker may retort that the wool-growers have tried hard 

 to turn them into one vast sheep-walk. As in every other 

 mercantile matter, of course demand and supply will settle the 

 question ; and I for one feel grateful to the moneyed men 

 who have rescued some of the finest sporting-ground, and 

 most romantic hills and corries, from the treatment they would 

 certainly receive at the sheep-grazier's hands. 



Speaking with the experience of nearly fifty years in rented 

 shootings, I affirm that only those who are willing to pay both 

 sheep and game rent have real power over their sporting hills. 

 They alone can prevent all intrusion, and set their neighbours 

 at defiance. The only plan for those who share the ground in 

 common with a stock-farmer, is to keep on the best possible 

 terms with him. Should the game lessee and the sheep- 

 tenant quarrel, the former is certain to get the worst of it. 



