THE NORTH AMERICAN GROUSE 63 



of thousands of dollars. The editor of the British 

 Sportsman said, last fall, that the annual sporting rental 

 of Inverness-shire is close upon $100,000. Adding the 

 rentals received in Perthshire, Ross-shire, Argyle- 

 shire, and Aberdeenshire, and $140,000 for the deer 

 shooting, it is estimated that the shooting privileges 

 yield an annual rental of over $2,200,000. " These fig- 

 ures," says the editor, " give the value of shootings when 

 properly looked after, and it must be borne in mind that 

 all this money is derived from land which in the days 

 of our grandfathers produced practically nothing." 



I look to see somewhat similar conditions in thegrouse 

 States of America before many years. The grouse 

 are especially adapted to some of the city sportsmen, 

 since the shooting in America is usually done from a 

 spring-wagon with cushioned seats, and the shots are 

 comparatively easy, being made over dogs. Already 

 there are places in this country where the entire taxes 

 on farms are paid by city sportsmen, and I predict it 

 will not be long before the " shoots," to use the English 

 expression, bring much better prices. The distance 

 from the large cities to the shooting grounds is no 

 longer a serious problem. A day or two in a luxurious 

 private car, or in the library of an express train, will 

 put one down upon the finest grouse-fields in the 

 world. In Scotland the grouse shooting is largely 

 done from ambush, the birds being driven across a 

 line of guns. The birds are under full headway as 

 they pass or cross over, and the shots are more diffi- 

 cult (as they are at driven pheasants) than those pre- 

 sented when shooting over dogs. I know a number 

 of American sportsmen who go to shoot grouse in 



