RED GROUSE SHOOTING.

In comparison with grouse shooting and deer stalking, all the other sports of this country are mere play. Never since the days of

Nimrod the founder

Of empire and chase,

Who made the woods wonder,

And quake for their race,*

has any sport been followed that requires greater personal exertion. Grouse shooting is the sport of all others exclusively British; the partridge, the pheasant, the black-cock, are widely dispersed over other countries, but the red grouse is only found on the British Islands.

Many causes contribute to the popularity of grouse shooting, amongst which may be enumerated the following. It commences during the parliamentary recess, and long vacation,—the legislator's, lawyer's, and collegian's holiday; and it is no wonder that, after being cooped up all summer, these, or any other classes of society, should seek relaxation in the sports of the field. August is the season when every one, from the peer to the shopkeeper, who can afford the indulgence, either rusticates or travels. In that month the casual tourist, the laker, and the angler, are often in the North, when the temptation to draw a trigger is irresistible. Grouse shooting fascinates the young shooter more than any other kind of sport, inasmuch as the season commences with it. Partridge shooting

is a comparatively tame and uninteresting amusement. To the majority of sportsmen a grouse shooting excursion only occurs once a-year, and then lasts only a few days; the sport, therefore, seldom palls, but during the long interval of time that elapses between each, the coming season is ever looked forward to with additional interest. Grouse shooting is, in many respects, a source of greater expenditure to the sportsman,-it requires more preparation, and is attended with more difficulties than any other kind of shooting; but these circumstances, so far from detracting from, probably serve to enhance the enjoyment of the sport, for we are apt to estimate whatever is obtained with difficulty and expense at a higher rate than what is gratuitously afforded us.

It is not uncommon for an accomplished sportsman to bag fifty brace on the 12th of August, on preserved grounds. What may be termed a good day's sport differs much on different moors;—on well preserved moors the average may be from ten to twenty brace; on subscription moors the shooter should not be dissatisfied if he has the opportunity of killing from three to five brace per day during the first week of the season, though this would be deemed a low average on the Scottish mountains.

The grouse shooter should be long in training before the season, so as to be able to master his ground, and carry his gun without much personal inconvenience. He should ride or drive to and from the shooting ground, for if he is unable to

undergo the labour comfortably, and the labour required is excessive, he will by no means feel at home on the moors, and the pleasure to be derived from the sport will but ill compensate for the fatigue. It is much more difficult to walk over heather than they who have not tried it imagine. There is an elasticity and spring in it that is extremely harassing and wearisome to the feet, being somewhat like walking on sand or snow. Shooters who boast of their acquaintance with London gun makers, and who talk of their feats in the shooting galleries, and of having slain pigeons at Battersea, and pheasants in my Lord Battue's preserves, are often wofully disappointed on their arrival in the North. It may not be out of place to enumerate some of the causes of their disappointment,—all of which cannot be provided against, but the mention of them may put the stranger on his guard, and he will do well to provide against such of them as he may think will else inconvenience himself.— He is out of training and cannot walk. His equipment is incomplete. His pivots are choked up. His caps will not fit. His wadding and cartridges are cut for a gun of very different guage. His dogs, never having seen any other winged game than partridges and pheasants, will not point grouse; they are wild, not being any longer under the eye of the keeper; one of them scours the country half a mile in advance, and the other will not suffer a bird that can be put up to remain on the ground; on being thrashed, one of them turns sulky, and the other dashes away full cry after sheep. Birds.

are wild, and the shooter has no shot larger than No. 5. His shoes are thin, and cling to his feet like so much whit-leather. It is excessively hot, he is overladen with shot, and his Indian-rubber gaiters will not absorb the perspiration nor suffer it to evaporate; his stockings are consequently soaked with wet. His hat is heavy,-it will neither resist wet nor is it ventilated. He is, when the sun shines, half roasted, and when clouded, half starved; or he is lightly clothed, and caught in a thunder shower. He wears thin stockings, and is foot-sore. He is lost in the mist, for want of a guide, a pocket compass, or a previous intimate knowledge of the localities, and inadvertently becomes a trespasser, when a glorious row ensues, ending, perhaps, in a struggle for the encroacher's fowling-piece! The beau-idéal of a sportsman, as regards dress is, oftentimes carefully studied,—the new comer is inevitably marked by some absurdity in this way, but his tout ensemble is soon metamorphosed amongst bogs, berries, and peat-holes, and he is too late made aware that he ought to have bestowed a thought on his comfort and convenience, rather than on his dress. If he does not tire himself by walking beyond his strength, probably over useless tracts, in the early morning, he most effectually accomplishes that object in the hot sun at noon, and is not only rendered incapable of following up the sport in the afternoon, but he feels exhausted the next morning.

A catalogue of some of the articles which form the grouse shooter's equipment may not be unser

viceable. Dogs; fowling-piece, in case or bag; two extra pivots; a pivot pricker; pivot wrench; gun-rod or cleaner; a small bottle of olive oil; some linen cloth and leather; safety powder-flask; dram-flask; shot-belt; bird-bag; a canister of powder; a quantity of shot, various sizes; wire-cartridges and case; a few pairs of woollen stockings; strong laced boots, or strong shoes and gaiters; a shooting cap, or very light hat; copper-caps and box; wadding; screwturner; spring-cramp; a punch for cutting waddings; shoe-oil; straps, collars, couples, and cords, for leading and tying up dogs; dog-whistle; dog-whip; a pocket-knife; a pen-knife; a pocket-comb; some cord or string for tying up game; hampers in which grouse may be packed between layers of heather; sealing-wax and seal to mark birds when sent by a coach or carrier; game certificate; card of permission, or other authority to produce to the gamekeepers; a pedometer; a small pocket-compass, which is useful in a fog; sandwiches, cigars, soda powders, Prometheans, brandy; an achromatic telescope, to view the scenery and the deer, may afford amusement in the Highlands. Half these things may be dispensed with, it is for the shooter to judge which of them he will require.

On the eleventh of August the sportsman arrives at his shooting quarters,-probably some isolated tavern, "old as the hills," (if such a house as the grouse shooter occasionally locates himself in, in the northern or midland counties of England, or in Scotland, where oat-cake and peat supply the place of bread and fuel, can be called a tavern.) The