AUTUMN IN NORWAY. 
175 
Eeindeer-stalking and grouse-shooting both open on 
August 15th. But the beasts are still in the velvet 
O 
at that date, and the “store bocks” remain in hiding 
amidst crags or stony strongholds; each woebegone old 
recluse ashamed of his defenceless state, and awaiting 
in solitude the day when, in all the pride of wide- 
sweeping antlers, he can again take his place as monarch 
of the herd. The latter days of August have afforded 
the best of sport with the deer on the high fjeld; but 
in the mean time we must be patient and content 
ourselves for a while with the grouse. 
II. Grouse-Shooting. 
Norway possesses five species of grouse, all more 
or less abundant in their respective zones, which are as 
follows :— 
Capercaillie ( Tjur ). In low-level pine-forest. 
Blackcock (Aurhahn). Wooded moors, as at home. 
Hazel-grouse (Hjerpe). The densest birch-forest. 
Willow-grouse (Dal-rype, Slcovs-rype). Among the woods on the 
lower fjeld, and as high up as scrub can grow. 
Ptarmigan ( Fjeld-rype ). High fjeld, above limit of scrub. 
I should preface my remarks on this subject by 
saying at once that, owing to the prohibition of English 
sporting dogs, I have never gone in seriously for grouse¬ 
shooting in Norway. One can, of course, in the 
interminable birch-forests that clothe the slopes and 
lower plateaux of the fells, without a dog, find and kill 
many brace of grouse in a day; they offer, too, smart 
and difficult shots as a covey springs in thick covert, 
some dodging low through the trees, the majority 
rocketing vertically upwards till clear of branches. 
There is hard work in plenty, lovely surroundings, and 
the charm of novelty in thus shooting the willow-grouse. 
