AUTUMN IN NORWAY. 
181 
seem strange that, with their vast ranges of moors and 
abundant crop of grouse, they should virtually prohibit 
foreigners from renting those moors, and enjoying the 
Norsk grouse-shootings as they already do her salmon 
fishing. Under the present regime , Norway only receives 
(from foreigners) the market value of her grouse as food , 
say, one shilling a brace; whereas the sporting value, 
as game, would probably amount to five times that sum 
were the importation of dogs (under reasonable restric¬ 
tions) permitted. I am aware that English dogs are 
introduced by various means into Norway. Some are 
advertised for sale every August. But that is nothing. 
The man who loves shooting over dogs will have none 
of the “ rag, tag, and bobtail pack,” and, unless he may 
bring his own dogs with him, he will prefer to shoot 
his grouse at home. 
The hazel-grouse, or hjerpe , as already hinted, is 
deficient in true sporting attributes. Dwelling in the 
thickest forest, where a clear shot is rarely possible, he 
springs away with a dash and clatter that should carry 
him for miles; but he perches incontinently on a tree 
hard by, where he will sometimes sit, or climb, parrot¬ 
like, among the branches till a fifth shot from our 
schoolboy's catapult lays him low. He has splendid 
speed of wing, and it is almost impossible to kill him 
as he dashes off his perch in the pine; but the perching 
habit is fatal to his reputation as game. He is, never¬ 
theless, a beautiful bird, and associated with pleasant 
memories of days passed in the primeval forests of 
Scandinavia. 
Of the blackcock, too, little need be said. He is 
found in open forest and marshy moorland—the same 
