BLACKGAME 211 



absolutely. It follows that many of the old ladies must 

 have attained the full span of years allotted to their kind, 

 and that they will eventually die a natural death, or what- 

 ever may be its equivalent in bird-life. This cannot tend 

 to the unqualified benefit of the race : though it is difficult 

 to suggest the remedy. Could old greyhens be distin- 

 guished on the wing from the younger birds, the former 

 should undoubtedly be shot. But they are not so distin- 

 guishable. Just as with grouse, the pugnacious old cocks 

 are now recognised to be as prejudicial as any other 

 vermin on a grouse-moor, so should the old greyhens be 

 regarded in their own sphere. They might, of course, 

 be distinguished, and destroyed over dogs, in the early 

 part of the season. Such work would be uncongenial to 

 the sportsman, but its execution might, with advantage to 

 the race (where signs of decadence are visible), be rele- 

 gated to the gamekeeper, along with his other functions 

 of ridding the ground of pests. 



This remedy, however, is only suggested where black- 

 game are found to be decreasing; or, at least, not 

 flourishing. Otherwise, let well alone. 



Blackgame are very generally stated to be de- 

 creasing in numbers ; and, in places, one hears their 

 eventual disappearance foretold. That is not my experi- 

 ence of them in Northumberland during the last thirty- 

 years or more. The blackcock is, of course, a rigid 

 Conservative in the wrong sense of that word. He 

 abominates improvements, and anything in the form of 

 reclamation is anathema to him. Even surface-drainage 

 molests him, and a 3-inch pipe is his notice to quit. His 

 Eden must be boggy and sponge-like, the lower levels 

 waterlogged. Where such primitive conditions remain, 

 the numbers of blackgame have not decreased ; but they 



