12 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



seldom support their statement by pointing out nests deserted by the hen after 

 being buried in the snow, they keep the plausible explanation ready for use if 

 required, and if the stock after all proves to be up to the average, they feel 

 secretly rather surprised, but say nothing about the adverse conditions in the 

 breeding season, for the excuse may be required the following spring. Thus 

 much valuable evidence is lost owing to the very natural desire of the game- 

 keeper to prove himself the innocent victim of circumstances. 



Obviously, if the occasional snowstorms and moderate frosts of a normal April 

 were really responsible for the damage so often attributed to them, it would 

 follow that in a really inclement nesting season, such as occurred in 1908, the 

 effects would have been disastrous throughout the length and breadth of the 

 country. As a matter of fact, the bags in the autumn of that year, though 

 unequal, were well up to, and in some places far above the average ; and even 

 where a shortage of birds was reported the failure could often be traced to other 

 causes than the unfavourable weather-conditions in the spring. 



While the evidence collected does not confirm the view that snow and frost 

 in the nesting season are extensively destructive to the eggs of Grouse, there is 

 some reason to believe that unfavourable weather, occurring immedi- 

 tiouof ately before the date of laying, has an injurious effect upon the breeding 

 by bad" powcTS of the parent birds. In the spring of 1908, for example, it was 

 observed that on many moors birds which had paired, and were about 

 to nest, became packed again on the arrival of frost and snow, and postponed 

 their breeding operations until some time after the return of favourable conditions. 

 The result was that they nested several weeks later than they would otherwise 

 have done, and not only were their broods late, but the number of eggs laid 

 was smaller than usual — sometimes averaging only four and five in a nest. The 

 resulting smallness of the coveys was often accounted for by the hypothesis 

 that several eggs in each nest had been destroyed by the frost in April ; but there 

 was little direct evidence of this, and it seems equally reasonable to suppose 

 that the power of egg production had been impaired by the enforced postpone- 

 ment of nesting. The data are insufficient to establish this theory, but the 

 point is worthy of a passing mention. 



It is certain that some of the eggs were lost owing to their having been 

 dropped on the snow and not in a nest at all. After a certain stage of develop- 

 ment the egg is laid wherever the bird happens to be. It is not uncommon to 

 find eggs dropped in this accidental manner lying on the ground or on snow. 



