cHaP. I11.] GROUSE. 25 
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—Death of Eagle. 
I rounp the nest of a grouse with eight eggs, or rather ege- 
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 spot particularly in- 
fested by colley-dogs, as well as by herd-boys, et id genus omne. 
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 in October. If the parent 
bird had selected her nesting-place for beauty of prospect, she 
could not have pitched upon a lovelier spot. The nest was on a 
little mound where I always stop, when walking in that direction, 
to admire the extensive and varied view—the Bay of Findhorn 
and the sand-hills, the Moray Firth, with the entrance to the 
Cromarty Bay, and the bold rocky headlands, backed by the 
mountains of Ross-shire. Sutherland, Caithness, Inverness, and 
Ross-shire are all seen from this spot; whilst the rich plains 
of Moray, dotted with timber, and intersected by the winding 
stream of the Findhorn, with the woods of Altyre, Darnaway, 
and Brodie, form a nearer picture. 
It is a curious fact, but one which I have often observed, that 
dogs frequently pass close to the nest of grouse, partridge, or 
other game, without scenting the hen bird as she sits on her eggs. 
I knew this year of a partridge’s nest which was placed close to 
a narrow footpath near my house; and although not only my 
people, but all my dogs, were constantly passing within a foot 
