30 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



the birds and make them rise. The cover was rough 

 and thick, and ryper even in those unsophisticated 

 days, when the Norwegian native had not obtained 

 the present cheap and plentiful supply of breech- 

 loading, gas-pipe shot-guns, and when snaring in 

 winter and spring was not quite the fine art it has 

 since become were not too plentiful, and early in the 

 season were difficult to find. It was distinctly a 

 young man's sport, with plenty of rough walking for 

 a moderate amount of shooting. But with the aid 

 of Floe's activity and good nose we often obtained 

 a ten to fifteen brace bag, with an occasional woodcock 

 and snipe, and a blackcock or two thrown in by way 

 of variety. Floe's chief idiosyncrasies were to run 

 into her game, and sometimes hurriedly to devour a 

 dead bird when she thought no one was looking. 



The best Hitteren dog I ever shot over was a large 

 and powerful setter named Bismarck, the property 

 of my old friend Captain Congreve, the owner 

 of the Hitteren shooting of Kaldkloven. In later 

 years I had the use of Bismarck for one or two 

 seasons, and his steadiness and unerring sagacitywere 

 a pleasure and delight to the sportsman. If he 

 found birds away out of sight in rough and, perhaps, 

 wooded ground, he would after a time come back 

 quietly from the point, and, in his own unmistakable 

 manner, inform the man with the gun and lead him 

 back to the birds. I can well believe that some of 

 these quadrupeds, our faithful sporting companions, 

 possess a faculty akin to reason. 



We occasionally, later in the season, tried walking 

 in line for Hitteren grouse and blackgame, a method 

 that can best be described as ' vanity and vexation of 

 spirit.' It generally led to much irritation and un- 



