xx INTRODUCTION 



times he has not the necessary knowledge, and very frequently 

 his executive staff is insufficiently trained for the purpose. 



Another factor which has greatly hampered the owners' 

 efforts to improve the yield of their moors is the constant re- 

 currence of epidemics of mortality, more or less severe, among 

 the Grouse stocks ; this mortality always tends to break out 

 wherever the stock has become unusually large, and its effect 

 has been to produce a set-back in the bags just as they begin 

 to show marked improvement. This mortality was found to 

 be so prejudicial to the satisfactory development of Grouse 

 moors that in 1904 a number of representative moor owners 

 asked for an official inquiry into the causes of " Grouse Disease," 

 and the methods to be adopted for its prevention. The outcome 

 of their representations was the appointment of a Committee 

 of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. This Committee 

 carried on their investigations for a period of six years, and 

 published the results in a Final Report, which appeared in the 

 autumn of 1911. The present volume attempts to give the 

 main findings of the Committee in an abbreviated form, and 

 it is hoped that it may prove to be a useful handbook to those 

 who have not an opportunity of referring to the original Report. 



LOVAT. 



