KEEPERS AND KEEPERING 441 



the raiders in the prosecution of their designs. The methods of trapping 

 or otherwise destroying vermin are dealt with in another part of ^ 



, , Destruc- 



this chapter, and here it is only necessary to say that whenever tiou of 



■^ •'•'•'_ \ermin. 



the keeper sees a fox or a stoat or a hooded crow upon his ground 

 he should never rest until he has made an end of it. Every addled Grouse's 

 egg should be given a chance of retrieving its failure by becoming the death- 

 meal of some mountain robber. A keeper should be judged by the paucity 

 of vermin to be found upon his beat, not by the total number he can kill each 

 year. 



During the hatching season, and until the young birds begin to fly, the game- 

 keeper may continue to watch his growing stock. About this time also he may 

 employ himself upon the building up of Grouse butts and the bushing 

 of wire fences with bunches of heather. In June and early July much butts: bush- 



ill c wire 



can be done to increase the heather area by the destruction of bracken, 



which on many moors has monopolised the sheltered glens, and is rapidly 



encroaching on the hill ground. Bracken can always be weakened, 



. . . . . Destruc- 



and sometimes even exterminated, if cut over twice a year in the early tion of 



P , , . . bracken. 



summer when the tender young fronds are beginning to appear above 

 the ground, and many cases are recorded where Grouse ground has been reclaimed 

 from this noxious weed by the energy of a determined keeper aided by a 

 temporary stafi" of assistants. 



When the young birds begin to fly it becomes necessary for the keeper to 

 use greater caution in his visits to the moor. He should still keep an eye upon 

 his vermin traps, but he should not leave the roads and moorland paths more 

 than is necessary, and he should avoid flushing the young coveys. 



By the end of July he may take stock of his birds with the assistance of his 

 dogs. To ascertain what mortality has occurred since hatching he should count 

 the young birds in every covey, and compare their average number obsen-a- 

 with the average number of eggs which were successfully hatched out. gto^k L 

 If there appears to be a marked reduction he must try and discover ^^'^• 

 the reason for the loss, whether vermin, climatic conditions, or disease, and if the 

 trouble is local, take measures to prevent a recurrence of the cause in the 

 following season. 



With the shooting season the nature of the gamekeeper's duties become 

 twofold. His first duty is to assist in the destruction of the stock which he 

 has fostered with such tender care, and at the same time he must keep an 



