"As Mr. W. S. Hurrel was crossing the hill between Carr Bridge and the Spey, on a fishing excursion, with some of his dogs following, one of them pointed, when a Grey Hen offered to do battle in defence of her brood, and flapping her wings like fanners, she with heroic bravery actually beat her canine antagonist and drove him crest-fallen away. Mr. Bass, M.P., and his friends who have taken the shootings around Carr Bridge are in the habit of giving presents to the herd-boys in the districts in order to engage them to preserve the nests, and if possible guard them from external violence. One of the keepers lately accosted one of these herd-boys, and in answer to several queries on the subject of nests, was told by the boy that in guarding the game from molestation he had no difficulty except with one nest, which was situated in a place much frequented by the cattle, and which he said must have been destroyed unless by some means protected. 'But,' continued the boy, 'I have built a little house of stones and turf about it, and that will prevent the cattle getting at it.' 'But,' said the keeper, 'you will certainly scare away the birds.' 'Oh, no,' replied the boy, 'I have left a little door for the hen to get in and out of, and she sits on her eggs as usual;' which the keeper on visiting the place found to be true." The Black Cock is pursued with great zest in all countries of which it is a native--in Scandinavia various modes of warfare are resorted to. "A very common plan of starting the Black Cock, in the winter time," says Mr. Lloyd, speaking of his Scandinavian experiences, "is with the aid of a _bulvan_, or artificial decoy bird. This is affixed to the top of a long and slender pole, or of two poles tied together, which is then hoisted a little above the top of a birch-tree, standing on an eminence, that it may be seen from a distance. The fowler then conceals himself in a screen constructed of a few fir-boughs, previously prepared for the purpose. Here he patiently awaits the coming of the birds, and when attracted by the _bulvan_, or driven towards it by people patrolling the country for the purpose, they alight in the tree on which the decoy is placed, or on those in the immediate vicinity, one or other of them usually meets its doom. "At times two or three individuals take part in this amusement, and if there be several wooded knolls in the same locality, each may be occupied to advantage by a _jägare_ and his _bulvan_, for as these birds, when alarmed at the shot, keep flying from one _bulvan_ to the other, they are pretty sure of being killed sooner or later."