GROUSE, AND GROUSE-SHOOTING. 
157 
admirable harmony. His favourite habitat is the bush-covered plain, 
where he leads a solitary and silent life. He seldom makes use of his 
wing.s, but rims with great rapidity. His love-call is very sweet ; loud 
at first, and gradually melting awaj^, like a musician's well-executed 
diminuendo. 
DWA_RF QUAILS. 
It would be unpardonable to omit all reference to the British 
sportsman's favourite bird, which attracts him to the breezy moors of 
Scotland when the 12th of August comes round. It may be doubted 
whether any feathered game yields to the lords of the soil a more 
liberal revenue than the grouse. For the sake of the " sport " they 
afibrd, scores of English gentlemen rent barren tracts of heath and 
moorland at sums which seem strangely disproportionate to their real 
value. Grouse-shooting, indeed, has become one of the recognized 
pastimes of our wealthier classes ; and the moor-cock and the moor- 
hen have been immortalized in song. What says Burns ? — 
" Now westlin' winds and slaiight'rin' guns 
Bring autumn's pleasant weather, 
The moor-cock springs, on whirring wings, 
Among the bloomin' heather." 
