CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN THE RED GROUSE 153 



of birds in the wild state. Some of these cases occurred in birds which had died 

 naturally ; in others the specimen had been shot, and forwarded for examination 

 as a possible case of disease. 



The following accidents are within the experience of most game preservers : 

 collision with wire fences and telegrajih wires, accidental damage from vermin 

 traps, snapping by sheep dogs, drowning in sheep-drains or moss-cuttings, 

 etc., and wounding by shot. 



And of these no one can doubt that the " pricking " of birds due to bad 

 shooting is the most frequent cause of damage. 



The following examples illustrate a number of these points : — 



(No. 301.) A hen Grouse whose wing had been cut off clean at the 

 shoulder, presumably by collision with a wire fence, not only survived collision 

 to be shot the following season under suspicion of being a sick ^^^^ ^^"'''• 

 bird, but actually succeeded in rearing a brood of five healthy young 

 Grouse. 



Another instance of precisely similar nature is recorded elsewhere, in 

 which the bird, a hen Grouse, had successfully raised a brood of healthy chicks 

 notwithstanding the loss of a wing. In the first of these cases the wing was 

 cut off so close to the body that no vestige of a stump was left. The cicatrix 

 in the skin was adherent to the tissues about the rounded end of the broken 

 humerus, of which only the head and neck were left. There was every 

 appearance that the wound had healed well and quickly, probably some four 

 or five weeks before the bird was shot, and soon after the nesting time. In 

 feather and in condition the bird was not appreciably the worse for her mishap. 

 The scapula, which had been broken in two pieces at the time of the accident, 

 had made a strong though irregular union (see Fig. 1). For purposes of 

 comparison a drawing is given of the bones of the undamaged (right) side 

 of the same bird (see Fig. 2). 



The sternum or breastbone is another bony part also liable to injury, but 

 sometimes without immediately fatal results ; in such cases damage is Fracture of 

 most probably caused by collision with wire fencing. 



(No. 1672.) A hen Grouse was "picked up alive" on a Berwickshire moor 

 in August. She weighed only 14|- ounces, and was very thin and in very 

 poor feather ; but upon dissection it was found that, perhaps a month or two 

 before, she had broken her breastbone right across by collision with something 

 — probably a wire fence. The smaller posterior portion had been displaced 



