Who can compare grouse with partridge shooting?
Still the difference exists, not so much in the character of the bird as in the features of the country.

It is the wild aspect of the heathery moor without a bound, except the rugged outline of the mountains upon the sky, that gives such a charm to the grouse-shooting in Scotland, and renders the deer-stalking such a favourite sport among the happy few who can enjoy it.
All this proves that the simple act of killing is not sport; if it were, the Zoological Gardens would form as fine a field to an elephant shot as the wildest Indian jungle.
Man is a bloodthirsty animal, a beast of prey, instinctively; but let us hope that a true sportsman is not savage, delighting in nothing but death, but that his pursuits are qualified by a love of nature, of noble scenery, of all the wonderful productions which the earth gives forth in different latitudes.

He should thoroughly understand the nature and habits of every beast or bird that he looks upon as game.

This last attribute is indispensable; without it he may kill, but he is not a sportsman.
We have, therefore, come to the conclusion that the character of a country influences the character of the sport.

The first question, therefore, that an experienced man would ask at the recital of a sporting anecdote would be, 'What kind of country is it ?' That being clearly described to him, he follows you through every word of your tale with a true interest, and in fact joins in imagination in the chase.
There is one great drawback to the publication of sporting adventures--they always appear to deal not a little in the marvellous; and this effect is generally heightened by the use of the first person in writing, which at all events may give an egotistical character to a work.