EFFECT OF MAN'S AIDS ON GROUSE 



395 



has changed. He continues, "if we compare the average skill of the present day brush shooter 

 with the average of the market shooter fifty years ago, the result would be highly amusing and 

 very disastrous to the pride of the modern edition". Phillips then points out that the great 

 increase in number of hunters in recent years makes the aggregate "as potentially destruc- 

 tive as he of the old school". 



Increased protection for the birds and improving coverts combined with the response of 

 the grouse to more intensive hunting by gaining steadily in his ability to steer clear of shot, 

 have balanced the growing popularity of the sport with its improved weapons so that serious 

 depletion from hunting is not likely to occur. 



Grouse Dogs* 



There has been an historical sequence in the employment of dogs as grouse hunting aides 

 which must be laid alongside the accounts of other factors affecting grouse to make this report 

 complete. The authors have also had an opportunity to attempt the use of dogs as an aid to 

 game surveying, which has made possible some observations of general interest. Further- 

 more, to many sportsmen, grouse dogs are inseparably associated with grouse hunting, the 

 perpetuation of which was a prime motive for this Investigation. Hence this special sec- 

 tion on grouse dogs. 



* By J. Virlor Skift. 



