178 
WILD NOKWAY. 
Here we found five of her brood, three of them cocks, 
which I shot, fine forward birds, nearly half black. In 
a densely-wooded corner we heard hazel-grouse whist¬ 
ling ; there were high rocks, and we could walk all round 
the place, spying down into the trees, but nothing was 
visible, so we climbed down into the hollow which was 
fairly choked with small firs, birch, and rowan trees, 
jostling the life out of each other. We heard the birds 
rising and settling again ; but though Hjumpe bayed 
them twice close by, not a glimpse could we get. 
We now separated, W. going down to the lake, while 
I kept the fell-ridge, and soon fell in with an exception¬ 
ally good bit of sport. The ground was wild and rocky, 
with open pine-forest, and from a heathery hollow hard 
by sprang twenty willow-grouse. I was not ready, 
having no sign from the dog, and only got one. The 
rest sped away through the pines, and, just as we were 
losing sight of their white wings, wheeled sharp to the 
left into a small glen. I walked them up and got a 
brace, marking them again into a ravine a considerable 
distance forward and higher on the hill—indeed at one 
time their flight was well over the tree-tops. Made 
a long detour to get above and beyond the birds to 
leeward, and on approaching the head of the glen, which 
was deeper and with stronger covert, Hjumpe (on the 
leader) indicated game. The grouse rose rather wide, 
but all scatteredly and in separate lots, some on either 
side of the gully, so that I managed to drop five with 
four barrels, Hjumpe retrieving two runners most 
meritoriously. This time their course was down-hill, 
but through thick timber, and we could not mark them. 
Knowing their twisting, devious flight, I never expected 
