THE GKOUSE DISEASE. o3 



injured by frost, the grouse can hardly escape 

 sickness where they exist in considerable 

 numbers. In a paper published in that useful 

 book, ' The Transactions of the Highland 

 Society,' the author had taken the trouble to 

 trace the line of the grouse disease, and he 

 never found it within ten miles of the west 

 coast. ISTow the influence of the Gulf Stream 

 is supposed to extend at least ten miles inland, 

 and as far as this is felt the heather is never 

 seriously injured by frost. But some people 

 will say, why did not the disease show itself 

 years ago ? We believe because, when grouse 

 were scarce, the few that were allowed to 

 live through the winter could always find 

 enough wholesome food. However bad the 

 potato disease was, half-a-dozen Irishmen 

 could have always picked out sound potatoes 

 in sufficient quantity to keep them alive where 

 a hundred must have starved. If our grouse 

 are to exist in the numbers which we like to 

 see in the autumn, they must have something 



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