76 



THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



the consumption of heather seed from 20:|^ per cent, in January to 2j per 

 Heather ^^^^- ^° February and 2^ per cent, in March is interesting as showing 

 etten"after ^^^^ °^^^ ^^® ^^^^ ^^^ fallen to the ground it is no longer eaten by 

 January. Grouse, though it may be valuable for the reproduction of the plant. 



TABLE IV. — Showing the Percentages of Various Foods found in Crop Contents of 

 Grouse from December to March inclusive. 



Blaeberry 

 eaten 

 largely 

 where prO' 

 curable. 



Another point is that both in this and the preceding Table, the figures 

 relating to the consumption of blaeberry stalks and leaves are misleading 

 because they are the result of averaging the crop contents of a large 

 number of birds — many of them sent from localities where blaeberry 

 is unknown. Were the crops of individual birds recorded it would 

 be found that those coming from moors where blaeberry is common 

 would show almost as large a consumption of that plant as of heather. 

 Blaeberry forms as much as 30 per cent, of all foods taken by Grouse in 

 Derbyshire, 22 per cent, in Yorkshire, and 11 per cent, in Inverness and 

 Dumfriesshire, and very little in any of the other counties. 



In special cases these averages are departed from, especially when the heather 

 crop has been a failure. Thus some December specimens from Lancashire showed 

 the remarkable average of 80 per cent, of blaeberry stalks and buds, with only 

 17 h per cent, of heather shoots and 2^ per cent, of heather seed, but in this case 

 the heather-seed crop in Lancashire was reported as very bad. In the same year 

 the heather-seed crop in Peebles and Merioneth was reported as exceptionally 

 good, and the December specimens from both these counties showed the pro- 

 portion of 50 per cent, of heather shoots and 50 per cent, of heather seed, but 

 no blaeberry. 



