FENCING OF GROUSE MOORS. 39 of a flock of eleven. Old birds come to know them, but young ones run against them and are killed. In some districts as much as thirty to forty per cent. of the grouse that are hatched are thus destroyed. It is suggested that on all wire-fences with wooden stakes the proprietor should place a bar of paling along the top; and on those made entirely of iron, pieces of tin be attached to the top wire. On most hill-land a boundary-fence of some sort is indispensable to prevent the intrusion of sheep and cattle into deer-forests and neighbouring farms. There are great varieties of fences: stone-dykes, turf-dykes, sheep-hurdles, post-and-rails, wooden palings, and wire-fences. The best fence against sheep and cattle, and the most suitable on grousemoors, is the old-fashioned stone-dyke from three to four feet high, with a cope of a foot to sixteen inches; and at intervals of six or seven feet one cope-stone of about two feet high, having a niche in which a strong rail is placed. This kind of inclosure is the cheapest in the end, and grouse never fly against it. As we have said, grouse feed, almost exclusively, upon the top shoots of heather, and it is best for them when young and tender. When the heath is in this favourable condition the birds are in general healthy; but when the heather is old, and affected by severe frost, or a wet season, the contrary is the case; they become weakly and diseased. We think there cannot be any doubt that there is an inseparable connection 40 GROUSE IN WET SEASONS. between healthy heather and healthy grouse. A Scotch forester states that all along the sea-coast, where the heather does not suffer by frost, there is no grouse disease; while inland, ten miles or so, beyond where the sea exercises its influence, there the grouse disease begins. The dissection of grouse that have died of disease has proved that their crops contained frost-bitten heather. We can also connect the disease with wet seasons. The heath, like other vegetable products does not quite ripen, particularly the small tops on which grouse chiefly feed. The tape-worm, so common in diseased birds, is equally the result of a wet open season as of frosted heather. Of course, bad hatching seasons, such as cold wet weather, have unfavourable results, but these are unfortunately beyond human control. We can, however, mitigate the evil effects by drainage, and burning the heather periodically, so as to give sound, healthy feed. We find that excessively cold or wet seasons are succeeded by great mortality among birds, and that grouse suffer more in wet than in dry seasons however cold. This was strikingly demonstrated in the wet season of 1872-73. The tears of heaven shed o'er much CHAPTER III. He prayeth best who loveth best ANOTHER cause of grouse disease is over-trapping of birds and beasts of prey, which interferes with the balance of nature. Birds of prey especially contribute to the soundness of breed by destroying the weak and sickly grouse, such as become debilitated from bad feeding, want of good water, wet, and cold. There is thus left, though a smaller, yet a stronger, hardier, and healthier stock. Surely it is not without reason that nation after nation are making laws for the protection of wild birds. There must be a growing feeling of the necessity. Just as we believe that in farming birds are absolutely required to destroy weeds, grubs, and insects, so we believe birds of prey to be necessary for ensuring a well-stocked moor of healthy grouse. There can be no doubt that were the "Balance of Nature" left to herself all would be right. The Rev. F. O. Morris, the Rev. Mr. Tristram, Mr. R. Gray, all well-known naturalists, and others, are most anxious to protect birds of prey, believing that they should hold their place in the divine organization of nature, and that no bird on earth would be a nuisance if man had not interfered with them. Lord Lilford, who is a sportsman of the first rank, believes in this balance in nature, for his lordship said: "My view is, if we allowed the hawks to increase, and take their share of the small birds, we should get about the right balance." But cawing rooks, and kites that swim sublime The jay, the pie, and even the boding owl That hails the rising moon, have charms for me. Whilst we think that birds of prey should be allowed to increase, we think that grouse should have improved conditions of existence. Keepers, as a rule, look upon everything as vermin, except what they find in the game list, and kill off accordingly, with a "zeal not according to knowledge." This certainly is one of the causes of the grouse disease, and is an erroneous and ignorant practice. No doubt birds of the hawk tribe sometimes kill grouse of full vital energy; but they destroy more of the weak and sickly, and thus prevent the outbreak of epidemic. Moreover, great numbers of wounded. grouse, if not destroyed by birds of prey, would live GROUSE AND HAWKS. 43 to rear a sickly brood, which would become diseased and succumb to the malady. 6 Birds and beasts of prey have become almost extinct in the Highlands. There is, however, a healthy feeling growing, that at least eagles and hawks should not be killed. The Duke of Sutherland, Mr. Cunliffe Brooks, and some others, are now preserving these birds in their extensive shooting ranges. Mr. John Colquhoun of Omara House, writes on 5th August:"In my late correspondence about The Hunters' Badge' in the 'Field,' I mentioned that a golden eagle had hatched close to a shooting-lodge, where my son and his friend, the shooting tenant, saw the pair most days they were shooing, followed by their eaglet about ten yards behind them. The old birds. were evidently teaching the young one to hunt and kill prey. Soon after the sportsmen left for the winter one of the keepers trapped the old male by mistake. The widow and young one soon afterwards disappeared, but the former returned again last spring with another male, hatching in a new eyrie twenty yards off, where a second hopeful' is nearly ready to be taught to provide for himself." Some well-meaning, but unwise individuals, set up the plea of cruelty to the grouse as a reason for destroying hawks. They say that it is horrible to allow poor defenceless birds to be torn to pieces by their enemies, and die a lingering death. They hardly know what they talk about. When hawks, overtake their prey on the wing, they strike |