CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN THE RED GROUSE 177 



Attention Las already been drawn to the benefit derived from sheep and deer 

 in time of snow, owing to the surface of the snow being broken by their tracks. 

 But although the heather may be exposed, and even though oats and corn may 

 have been put down in abundance for the birds, the most important 

 step has often not been taken to relieve the necessities of starving erit iu time 

 Grouse. They must have grit, for without grit it is almost useless ° ™°^' 

 to put down corn. This was realised and put into practice in the snowstorm 

 of 1881 ; but only by very few. 



Corn was put down here and there for the ravenous birds, and though some 

 of it was eaten it was evidently not what they were most eager to obtain. 

 On one moor, at any rate, men were then sent out with shovels, not merely to 

 expose the heather, but to open up the "scrapes" along the road sides all over 

 the moor, and thus to expose fresh grit. Every day new grit was laid open and 

 rotten quartz and sandy rock were broken out, and each day a fresh supply was 

 needed. Grit, therefore, was what the birds were really starving for, and it 

 was the want of it that rendered them incapable of dealing with hard corn or 

 winter heather. With good quartz grit they can deal with almost anything, 

 even the very woody heather that appears above the snow ; without grit they 

 will starve. Any one may assure himself of this by examining the winter 

 crop-contents of the white-winged Willow Grouse or "Rype" of Scandinavia 

 — the bird which decorates our poultry shops as "Ptarmigan" in winter. 

 It is quite wonderful to see how excellent is the condition of these birds, 

 living as they do on hard wooden alder twigs and alder buds, woody dwarf 

 willow twigs and old rank heather. Their crop contents are extraordinarily hard 

 and woody and uninviting in appearance, and yet with good quartz grit it is 

 all ground up and utilised.^ 



Another cause of death to Grouse is the ravages of birds and beasts 

 of prey." -,. 



Deaths also occur amongst Red Grouse owins; to the antagonism 

 which exists between the male birds of Blackgame and Capercailzie, and those of 

 the Red Grouse. The two former have been blamed for the disappear- Blackgame 

 ance of Grouse from certain parts of the country. John Colquhoun, caper- 

 speaking of the decrease of Grouse in some districts says: " This °'^'^^'*^- 

 may in part be attributed to the advance of cultivation ; but I cannot help 



' Vide also " Experiments on Effect of Grit Starvation," vol. ii. Appendix F 

 ' Vide chap. xx. pp. 443 et seq. 



VOL. I. M 



