SHOOTING A WITCH 



CHAPTER III 



Grouse's Nest — Partridge Nest— Grouse-shooting— Marten Cat — Witch, Death of 

 — Stags — Snaring Grouse — Black Game : Battles of — Hybrid Bird — Ptarmigan; 

 shooting —Mist on the Mountain — Stag — Unsuccessful Stalking-rDeath of 

 Eagle. 



I FOUND the nest of a grouse with eight eggs, or rather egg- 

 shells, within two hundred yards of a small farm-house on a 

 part of my shooting-ground, where there is a mere strip of 

 heather surrounded by cultivated fields, and on a ^pot par^ 

 ticularly infested by colley-dogs, as well as by herd-boys, et id 

 genus Qmne. But the poor bird, although so surrounded by 

 enemies, had managed to hatch and lead away her brood in 

 safety. I saw them frequently, afterwards, and they all came 

 to maturity. How many survived the shooting-season I do not 

 know, but the covey numbered eight birds far on m October. 



