GROUSE AND PARTRIDGE SHOOTING. 279 



housemaid having one morning discharged a 

 random shot at the floor, the recoil from which 

 threw her into hysterics, orders were issued from 

 head-quarters that no fowhng-piece should be per- 

 mitted to stand loaded within doors from that time 

 forward. A great deal has been said in favour of 

 hair- triggers, as they are termed; but I must 

 confess I never could discover any great advantage 

 in them, and they ought not to be trusted in the 

 hands of young or nervous sportsmen. 



Grouse and partridge shooting are of very short 

 duration. Grouse, after the month of August, be- 

 come wild, and packing together in large bodies, 

 take long flights, leading the hardy sportsman 

 many a weary mile over brae and burn, and toil- 

 ing up and down the craggy hill-sides, with every 

 now and then a random shot to reward his perse- 

 verance. In this manner, during the month of 

 September, I have toiled for hours over bog and 

 heather, and up to the mountain top, resting a 

 while on some huge dismembered crag, whilst dis- 

 cussing the remains of my wallet and whiskey- 

 flask, and then on again ; and if at the end of the 

 day I could produce six or seven brace of grouse, 

 they were hardly earned and duly prized. But 

 this was in the days of " auld lang syne," before 

 the grand battue system began. In these luxuri- 



