THE ISLAND OF HITTEREN 31 



parliamentary language, mainly because no three 

 or four guns could ever keep a line in the rough, 

 up-and-down, here-and-there-wooded grouse-ground 

 of Hitteren. They usually lost one another in the 

 first mile, and returned home in separate and 

 independent consignments. A strong, indefatigable 

 and steady dog, with good nose and quiet ways, is 

 absolutely indispensable for enjoyable grouse- shooting 

 in the rough cover of Norway island shooting-grounds. 

 Some of the Norway mainland fjelds afford, or, 

 rather, used to afford, better and more Scotch-moor- 

 like sport. On the fjelds of the Throndhjem Amt, 

 for example, I have occasionally, with a friend, ob- 

 tained twenty-five-brace bags of ryper over some- 

 what inferior dogs. But there was always a 2,000 to 

 3,000 feet climb to start with from one's house in 

 the valley below to the high f jeld above. So far as 

 my experience goes, grouse- shooting in Norway is 

 not now so good as formerly. Natives shoot more 

 and snare more. The market for grouse has been 

 made more available, and therefore better, by improved 

 means of railway and steamer transit and carriage, 

 and shooting and snaring is thus a better business for 

 the native, with the obvious necessary consequence 

 of less amusement for the sportsman than previously. 



The recent Norwegian game legislation makes it 

 a little more difficult for the casual native either to 

 snare or shoot on another man's ground, and may 

 have beneficial results in the course of years. The 

 rights of sporting ownership have been more clearly 

 defined, and in this respect the recent enactment is, 

 I believe, a good one. 



Another element of uncertainty in Norwegian 

 grouse and blackgame shooting is the migratory or 



