20 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



tance to the welfare of the birds. If the heather has been well 

 burnt in a systematic manner the chicks have access to shelter 

 in time of danger, yet are not lost in a wilderness of rank growth 

 should a shepherd's dog scatter the brood in all directions ; 

 vermin is kept down, and, most important of all, there is easy 

 access to a plentiful supply of suitable food in the strips or 

 patches of heather which are available in various stages of growth. 



The place above all others where we may be sure of finding 

 a brood of young chicks, if there are any on the ground, is 

 amongst rushes and long grass in the more swampy parts of 

 the moor ; this is specially noticeable in very dry seasons. 

 Whether the chicks seek these damp spots for the sake of 

 shelter from the heat or in quest of insect life is not known. 

 Food of Flies, spiders, beetles, and greenish caterpillars about 



Grout'e. -J-inch long, as well as slugs and chrysalides, have all been found 

 in the crops of chicks. Fresh Calluna heather shoots, moss 

 capsules, and tender blaeberry leaves just opened, if they are 

 to be had, are also generally present ; and as the young birds 

 grow older heather becomes more and more their staple food. 1 



In a chick of a few days old, where the food consisted of 

 small caterpillars, there was no grit to be seen in the gizzard ; 

 and, in another, the muscles of that organ, with its toughened 

 lining, seemed sufficient to crush the soft blaeberry shoots. 

 But it is the rule to find even in the youngest chick's gizzard 

 a certain small quantity of fine quartz-grit and sand. 2 



When half -grown the crops of those examined contained 

 a large percentage of heather, and the gizzards contained 

 about half the amount of grit that is usually found in old birds, 

 but in smaller fragments. 



Water, as supplied by streams and pools, does not appeal- 

 to be necessary in the earlier stages where there is plenty of 

 young heather ; insects, the succulent juices of the young heather 

 shoots, and dew seem to provide all the moisture necessary. 

 Broods are often hatched out far from any stream or pool, 

 and they can generally be found within a few yards of the same 



1 Vide chap. iii. pp. 101 et seq. " Ibid., p. 108. 



