Dartmoor. 145 



and where to look for them. Hard weather 

 drives them entirely away. There are also 

 plenty of golden plover, but they require a 

 good deal of getting at, and you may go out 

 for days without success, and again, you may 

 make a fair bag if you have luck. But 

 sport altogether is so precarious, that unless 

 a man, as I have said, can walk, and loves 

 the lonely moor with its stunted heather, its 

 broken, wet, and boggy covering, its bleak and 

 stony Tors, and its perfect stillness and loneli- 

 ness, as I do, and unless he can put up with 

 solitude, I would most strongly advise him not 

 to go there. I have been there on many 

 occasions; the first time was with my brother 

 (now pioneering in the backwoods of Canada), 

 which I will give a short description of. After 

 shooting three seasons at partridges and other 

 lowland game, I longed to have a taste of the 

 moor and the mountain, the salmon stream 

 and the loch. Scotland at that time of day 

 was not to be thought of. I have had plenty 

 of them all since that time though, but never 

 enough. How I love the heathery hills, the 

 crow of the cock grouse, and the wild notes of 



