GRiJJ^SE AND THE FUOST. 16:3 



It is a glorious experience, and one wliicli 1 

 liave enjoyed many, many times, to sit on a l)it of 

 l)leached sandstone at the bottom of a peat bat>- 

 during" a fine November morninj^- and watch the 

 rising- sun purple tbiC Eastern sky, Avliilst all around 

 the Grouse are making" tlie air ring witli their noble 

 music. It S(nnetimes happens that wlien the whole 

 countryside a})pears to be literally alive with Ijirds 

 a sudden silence falls upon the land, and the listener 

 is at a loss to understand the reason why, until a 

 distant hoarse croak or the appearance of a black 

 speck far away u}) in the sky tells him of tlie 

 jiresence of a Raven. 



Grouse are occasionally driven to terrible straits 

 in winter time. Whilst the snow is light and 

 powderv they easily scratch their way down to 

 the heather, or the wind soon bares exposed situa- 

 tions and renders their food accessible ; but if a 

 heavy fall of snow should occur in a dead calm 

 and then be innncdiately followed by a jiartial 

 thaw and hard fr(jst, their sustenance is liermetically 

 sealed and they are reduced to an almost helpless 

 condition. 



In the memorable winter of 1895 great numliers 

 of Grouse perished from starvation on the Northern 

 hills ; and whilst nest-hunting in Westmorland 

 ghylls and Yorkshire dales the following spring my 

 brother and I found skeletons every day, coming 

 across as many as eight in tlie neighbourhood of 

 Kirkby Stephen on a single ramble. During the 

 extremely rigorous weather it was not an uncommon 

 sight to see the Ijolder ones feeding unconcernedly 

 along with barn-door Fowls in farm-yards, and even 

 i-unning along the streets of market towns. Whilst 

 in the valleys they fed u})on hips, liazel catkins, 

 and the buds of hawthorns, and, curiously enough, 

 l2 



