Northern Observations of Inland Birds 279 



to comparatively small areas. I think it is now definitely 

 decided that the disease, if such it may be termed, is 

 caused by a small beetle {lochincB saturalis) commonly 

 known as the heather beetle. This insect breeds in the 

 roots of the heather, and it is a remarkable illustration 

 of Nature's laws of preservation that the beetle is one 

 of the favourite foods of blackgame and grouse. Thus, 

 just as the squirrel plants the forests with certain trees on 

 which he depends for food, so it may be said that moor- 

 game preserve the plant on which they rely for a living. 



It is probable that blackgame are more destructive 

 to these beetles than are grouse. Though moorland 

 birds to a certain extent, blackgame do not, so far as 

 I know, feed on heather at any time of the year, and there- 

 fore their visits to the moors, which are regular, are 

 chiefly for the purpose of finding insect food. So, while 

 the grouse there make a mixed meal of ling tips and 

 beetles, the blackgame fill their crops entirely with 

 beetles, as has many times been proved by an examination 

 of their crops. These birds, therefore, should be regarded 

 with a very kindly eye in those regions where frosted 

 heather has caused devastation. 



A variety of plants and roots grow on the moors above 

 the timber line in addition to those already mentioned. 

 There is, for example, the crowberry. This is seldom 

 seen at a lower altitude than one thousand seven hundred 

 feet, from which level it extends to a greater height than 

 the heather. It is undoubtedly the chief food of the 

 ptarmigan. Indeed it may be said that ptarmigan are 

 seldom to be found at a lower level than the crowberry, 

 except when very severe weather drives them and the 

 deer to the lower slopes. Normally the range of the 

 ptarmigan begins where the crowberry begins, and where 

 this plant does not exist ptarmigan are few and far 

 between, or perhaps entirely absent. 



