8 ItEL) GROT'S IS.
GONNA residing in districts where llic Brown Ptarmigan abounds nut hating lo sonic extent engaged in
it, in despite of game laws and oilier hnpcdiincnts. In my opinion, it is a pitiful and barbarous sport, as
pursued by a regularly equipped and legally qualified slaughterer, who, even without the labour of charging
his gnu, still less of carrying home the produce of his idle industry, destroys as much game in one day as
might serve for a dozen." As this outburst of indignation was penned some fifty years ago, when the
he.-iwosl hags were small compared with those of the present day, it is hard to imagine what would have
followed bad the observant naturalist perused the account of the 220 brace of Grouse killed by the
Maharajah Dub-op Singh over dogs in Perthshire on the 12th of August 1871, and the 121 brace of driven
birds obtained by Lord Walsingham in Yorkshire on the S8th of August 1S72.
With the exception of one season in Boss-shire and a few weeks in other northern cuuuties, the
whole of my observations on the breeding and general habits of Grouse, as well as on the preservation of
the birds and management of the ground, wen- made in the west of Perthshire. The most prolific of the
moors in Glenlvon were at a high elevation on the hills; the deep and sheltered corries and the mountainsides
being steep and frequently rocky, hard work was necessary in order to procure a bag. It was seldom
that Grouse would lie fo dogs in this locality after (he beginning of September, the month almost invariably
commencing with rain and bluslerous weather: a fine day with a light favourable breeze, however,
occasionally proved an exception, 20 brace having been twice bagged during the first week of that month in
ISO" by one gun. Por the remainder of the season it was ouly when birds were taken by surprise in some
gully or hollow shut in by rocky surroundings that a few shols could be obtained. On the approach of winter
the Grouse usually joined in immense packs; and after having noted their accustomed hue of flight round
the hill-tops, 1 was occasionally enabled to secure a few brace by driving. Though the nature of the
country differed considerably from that in which this style of sport is usually carried on, several shols
were occasionally obtained ; concealed among the slabs of stone on a stretch of rough ground, I was now and
then enabled, by using a couple of guns, to stop three or four brace while the pack in strngghng parties
continued to sweep past. The whole of the Grouse on the hill-side appeared at this time of year lo
gather inlo one large body; the magnitude of these flocks varied according tu the severity of the winter,
consisting, as far as one was able to judge, of from live or six hundred to a thousand birds. During protracted
storms of frost and snow Grouse are occasionally to be seen in immense Hocks on the higher and more
exposed moors: in many instances the birds have been observed by the keepers to gradually draw off
towards the low-lying straths and Hats where food and shelter is more readily obtained. It is seldom, if
ever, that any stragglers return when once driven from their native haunts by stress of weather. Under
date of Mareli I860 I find the following in one of my old game-houks:—" During the whole or the monlh
it was exceedingly stormy, with much snow. The Grouse at the commencement of tho severe weather
collected info packs of several thousands on the roughest portions of B.iluloau and Kerromore hills i in
such numbers did they gather that the ground for acres was black with birds, many of which must barn
come down the glen from Argyllshire. Fortunately the weather broke up before any general movement
had taken place, and saved the majority from leaving that part of the connfry." BVM after the termination
of winter firuuso frequently suffer from a late fall of snow, which destroys the greater part, if not the
whole, of the eggs. I witnessed a terrible storm in Strath Spcy in May 1MB), when widespread destruction
took place; a keeper in Glenlyon also lately informed me that for the first ten days in May lsfSl the hills
were deeply covered with snow, and the whole of the earlier nests deserted.
Many probable and still more improbable causes for the Grouse-disease have been brought forward
and thoroughly discussed withuut any beneficial result being obtained. That the disease will ever be
successfully grappled with appears hopeless; should the landed proprietors as well as the tenants of even
fhe whole of a county combine and carry out under competent supervision all the measures that are supposed
to be couducivc to the well-being of fhe species, and succi-od in keeping their birds in health for a lime
(which I believe is possible), there arc certain contingencies that no human foresight can avert. On many
portions of the hill-sides frosts and the cutting east winds of early spring will occasionally blight the
young heather-shoots thaf form the chief nourishment of the birds, and rendering their food indigestible
lay the foundation of a disease which, though at first only attacking those exposed to the same iullueuces
(/. e. typhoid in character), eventually becomes epidemic and spreads far and wide. A keeper, who had
acquired his experience during many years' scrvii-e in the west of Perthshire, informed am that he had noticed
tho diseaso WM most deadly on the moors facing towards the south, and conseqitcnlly more exposed
to the rays of the sun than on the shaded ground on the northern slopes. Judging from personal observation,
I was led to believe that the old cocks were the earliest sulferers, their dead bodies being the first seen
on two occasions when the disease made Its appearance. Thirst is doubtless one of the symptoms or the
malady; I met with both weather-beaten skeletons and decomposing carcasses lying thickly round tho
loch-siilcs, and also by the hums running through the lint moors uf Sutherland und Caithness, in the
summer of 1SC9. Yariuus opiuions as to the origiu of disease have from time lo lime appeared in print : a
too liberal diet of corn obtained from the slooks in autumn has been supposed prejudicial ; the wash
applied to sheep as well as worms from the animals tlicmsches have been considered to nll'ect the internal
organs; and the infatuated birds are, moreover, declared to have attempted to emulate the powers of the
Ostrich and subsist on flic unlimited stores of hhot scattered over llic moors. It has frequently been
remarked that a careless and irregular system of burning the heather, carried out regardless of consequences,
with an insufficient staff of keepers and shepherds to conduct the operations and guard against lie- undue
spread of the flames, deprives the birds of the most tender and w hnlesome portion of their food as well as the
adjacent shelter necessary for their safety, rendering them more liable to disease and exposed lo the attacks
of vermin. Though overfeeding on grain is by no means conducive to health, disease often proves most
virulent in localities where it is utterly impossible for the birds to have made their way to cornfields; I
have seen them lying dead in scores on the moors around the shores of Loch Slatel, on the borders of Sutherland
and Caithness. Its ravages may also bo traced in gleus where ouly small patches of land adjoining the
river-sides are fit for culliiafion, and to which the birds seldom if over descend to feed on the grain either
when in stook or scattered over the fields. In n recently published work on 'Grouse Disease' the
following quotation appears:—" My opinion is that corn is a very unwholesome food for Grouse. Let
any person examine the droppings of llrou-e when led on corn, and they will find item similar to tar, but
rather browner in colour." It is doubtless a fact that corn is not so suitable as their natural food; the
droppings, however, referred to (which are of a rei/i/'oiV-hniwn tint and slimy in texture) are by no means
uncommon ou the moors and cannot, be relied upon as a proof that the birds have been feeding on corn.
In September 1867, while excavating for the foundation of an underground shoaling* on the summit
of Bnlnluan. a hill some 3000 feet in height, lying between Glenlyon und Itnnnoch, a Grouse egg, apparently
|ietrified, was discovered at the depth of seven or eight feet below* the surface; its colouring was uiosl
brilliant and perfect, and the weight nearly, if not quite, double that of an ordinary egg. I'nfortunatelv on
leaving the lodge at the close of the season ibis curiosity was forgot ten and in ail probability llirowu an ay
at the lime of the annual cleaning.
* Ttu. ,111'IUT, onnstructod fur pur|mw» of observation, via hoik in the fact uf • itwn mil nnly iiigr ju,t beW the noniitoiii-t,iji,
• ith «n mlnuiis by moan, nf n long uiuli-rgTi'uiul i™.,^-,. Ir.in Ilk- lni-li nl iIn' liitl. A rk:ii (iljiTd l horns >lni]i. or -.an. ollur tm«™ iTiji 1», [] on nil on[i. -lr. Iih ul \lf • n luo Moll vittiin \ uv ami *h<* rofm the llili-riiir. unit i Iro-l, • 1. J L; l .] ,.i ,i « I., -i . . ev. '.:.<-:•• u... .1., .
all uUrnttion to tho .pot lor third- ,.f|.ny. 'I'linuu-li tin- iiiii.li.M, formi'Ll hj • pop in tho roi-h. ttioir wiHtmi.li mi l .• ml. iCLin- wlnlo u.ri-imio.
Nrluwii'fituiT' U"'" Mnoirv Imiuiui'l liul.l bo o.i.il, lati'lioJ uml n-.IU.I Jomi,1 ,10 i.ir.li.-. il-u. 11 n.nloii Ji. m-Ii mu.ti nI in; u ill i.abiu utivo.
Tho doirr lo I ho giL.s-.i'^o e .iroli.ih l m.,i iil'.l I.'i heath* r OIL.I *m,i! *l lxif.fi out .,1 h.ight lh.' bail, ill . Euitii .lit ,1 nnv time bo ofttcftil
QlMilll goiiio, tho hli.hlrrt warning to uiiy bird vi bou.t footing on the olil.