GRO USE RESTING A T MID- DA Y 233 



Strong, fly more than half a mile, their first flight, when 

 they have been flushed on flat, even ground. On the 

 other hand, when the ground from which they have 

 been flushed is of the reverse description, they never 

 go very far. Strange to say, when high winds prevail, 

 or before any great change in the weather is about to 

 take place, it becomes impossible to know what grouse 

 will or will not do. They become so capricious that it 

 is absolutely hopeless to endeavour to trust to any 

 rule whatever, and at such times every effort to find 

 them at all is often completely baffled. It is not so 

 much a matter for surprise that grouse should, at times, 

 be somewhat difficult to find during the day, but when 

 this difficulty is experienced towards evening, a very 

 marked change in the weather, and a change, too, for 

 the worse, may be expected. I have been told of 

 grouse flying for miles on such occasions, but only 

 once, in twenty-five years, have 1 known them fly for 

 more than a mile. Such long flights may be common 



I enough in Yorkshire, but it most certainly is not the 

 case in Inverness. 



During the middle of the day grouse rest them 

 selves, and remain huddled together in so small a 

 space that by reason of their not moving for so long 

 there is not a particle of scent, and unless a dog 

 happens by chance to light on them, it is long odds 



i against his otherwise finding them. 



When grouse are basking in the sun after dusting 

 themselves, and when they lie in a lump together until 

 feeding-time, a pocket-handkerchief would cover the 

 whole pack. I used to employ these hours either by 

 resting, or else taking the young dogs in hand, on the 

 out-beats along the march, when I was often able to 



