CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN THE RED GROUSE 119 



birds due to bad shooting is the most frequent cause of 

 damage. 



The following examples illustrate a number of these points : 



A hen Grouse whose wing had been cut off clean at the Collision 

 shoulder, presumably by collision with a wire fence, not only Wltllwire - 

 survived to be shot the following season under suspicion of 

 being a sick bird, but actually succeeded in rearing a brood 

 of five healthy young Grouse. 



Another instance of precisely similar nature is recorded, 

 in which the bird, a hen Grouse, had successfully raised a brood 

 of healthy chicks notwithstanding the loss of a wing. In the 

 first of these cases the wing was cut off so close to the body 

 that no vestige of a stump was left. The cicatrix in the skin 

 was adherent to the tissues about the rounded end of the broken 

 humerus, of which only the head and neck were left. There 

 was every appearance that the wound had healed well and 

 quickly, probably some four or five weeks before the bird was 

 shot, and soon after the nesting time. In feather and in con- 

 dition the bird was not appreciably the worse for her mishap. 

 The shoulder-blade, which had been broken in two pieces at 

 the time of the accident, had made a strong though irregular 

 union (see Fig. 1). For the purposes of comparison a drawing is 

 given of the bones of the undamaged (right) side of the same 

 bird (see Fig. 2). 



The sternum or breastbone is another bony part also liable 

 to injury, but sometimes without immediately fatal results ; 

 in such cases damage is most probably caused by collision with 

 wire fencing. 



A hen Grouse was picked up alive on a Berwickshire moor 

 in August. She weighed only 14J ounces, and was very thin 

 and in very poor feather ; but upon dissection it was found 

 that, perhaps a month or two before, she had broken her breast- 

 bone right across by collision with something probably a 

 wire fence. The smaller hinder portion had been displaced 

 forwards and upwards, riding upon the larger portion, and there 

 becoming fixed firmly by osseous union, but with a considerable 



