CLASSIFICATION AND LIFE HISTORY 13 



Enough has been said to emphasise the statement that 

 the eggs of the Grouse are wonderfully tolerant of adverse 

 weather conditions ; the fact is not sufficiently well recognised, 

 and because occasional losses occur there is a tendency among 

 gamekeepers to put down every failure of stock to some sharp 

 frost or heavy snowfall in the months of April or May. They 

 often do not inquire whether as a matter of fact any eggs were 

 laid at the date when the frost occurred, they seldom support 

 their statement by pointing out nests deserted by the hen 

 after being buried in the snow, they keep the plausible explana- 

 tion ready for use if required, and if the stock after all proves 

 to be up to the average, they feel secretly rather surprised, 

 but say nothing about the adverse conditions in the breeding 

 season, for the excuse may be required the following spring. 

 Thus much valuable evidence is lost owing to the very natural 

 desire of the gamekeeper to prove himself the innocent victim 

 of circumstances. 



Obviously, if the occasional snowstorms and moderate 

 frosts of a normal April were really responsible for the damage 

 so often attributed to them, it would follow that in a really 

 inclement nesting season, such as occurred in 1908, the effects 

 would have been disastrous throughout the length and breadth 

 of the country. As a matter of fact, the bags in the autumn of 

 that year, though unequal, were well up to, and in some places 

 far above the average ; and even where a shortage of birds 

 was reported the failure could often be traced to other causes 

 than the unfavourable weather-conditions in the spring. 



While the evidence collected does not confirm the view 

 that snow and frost in the nesting season are extensively destruc- 

 tive to the eggs of Grouse, there is some reason to believe that 

 unfavourable weather, occurring immediately before the date 

 of laying, has an injurious effect upon the breeding powers of 

 the parent birds. In the spring of 1908, for example, it was 

 observed that on many moors birds which had paired, and were 

 about to nest, became packed again on the arrival of frost 

 and snow, and postponed their breeding operations until some 



