244 A FA MIL Y SHOT 



As it may interest my readers to know what descrip- 

 tion of gun and charge it was which brought about 

 such wholesale slaughter, I may as well inform them. 

 It was a i2-bore cylinder, made by Dickson, of Edin- 

 burgh, in 1880, and the charge was 3^ drams of Curtis 

 and Harvey, and i:|; ounce No. 4 unchilled shot. The 

 amusing part of the performance was that my young 

 friend did not even see the birds coming to him. I 

 shouted to him, * Cock your gun ; they are coming to 

 your left front high over!' and he was therefore just 

 ready, and not being at all nervous by reason of seeing 

 anything unusual, for he had no idea what description 

 of birds were coming and thought they must be rooks, 

 he pulled to orders, and down they came all over the 

 place. I shall never forget his face. He started the 

 next day for India, where I have little doubt he must 

 often have told the story of this, his first and most 

 extraordinary experience of grouse shooting ; and 

 should he ever read these lines, he will be still further 

 gratified to know that my dog found the other two the 

 next day. 



I have often accidentally, in cross shots, bagged as 

 many as five, six, and even seven birds, nor is such an 

 occurrence at all uncommon when grouse driving, and 

 I once bagged a whole covey of seven birds in two 

 shots, much to the horror of a sporting parson who was 

 out with me ; but such accidents must happen now and 

 then, 'when an ill wind blows good to no one.' We all 

 keep our family shots in the dark. I could, if so 

 minded, record a big bag which was made in a couple 

 of shots in Yorkshire, but the less said about such 

 unfortunate occurrences the better. 



As far as the shooting of grouse is concerned, I 



