SEPT. GROUSE SHOOTING IN SEPTEMBER. 285 



I always find that the grouse are wilder in Sep- 

 tember than in any other month. They are well 

 scared and driven about by the August shooting, 

 and are not yet tamed down by the autumnal frosts 

 and cold. 



In this part of Scotland we have much wild and 

 stormy weather in September ; and many an Eng- 

 lish sportsman towards the end of the month, when 

 located in some small shooting-lodge, in the wild 

 and distant glens of the inland mountains, begins to 

 think of turning his way southwards. The incessant 

 rain driving pitilessly down the glen where his con- 

 fined and badly built cottage is placed, rivers 

 turned into torrents, burns changed into rivers, 

 and the grouse unapproachably wild, all combine 

 to drive away many a southern sportsman before 

 the end of this month ; and yet October and No- 

 vember often are better months for grouse-shooting 

 than the latter part of September. 



Here in Morayshire we have a more favourable 

 climate, and it is very rarely that there is any long 

 continuance of bad weather in the lower parts of 

 the county. IMany a storm passes harmlessly over 

 our heads to fall on the high grounds a few miles 

 from the coast. These storms of rain or snow, 

 although they pass over us, have always the effect of 

 lowering the quicksilver in the weather-glass, as 



