CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN THE RED GROUSE 139 



on the edges of the burns and springs nearest to their nests. 

 They are reported to suffer seriously in a drought. But when 

 all is said, excessive heat and drought are far less to be feared 

 in the British Isles than excessive wet and cold. Sunstroke, 

 " staggers," and " splanders " in wild birds of any kind are 

 extremely rare when compared with the results of an exces- 

 sively wet hatching season, especially if it happens to be accom- 

 panied by cold. Too much wet is undoubtedly more harmful 

 both to the sitting hens, to the eggs, and to the young birds 

 when hatched, and for a month at least after hatching, than 

 any other climatic extreme to which Grouse are subject. Exces- 

 sive rainfall is said to account for the scarcity of Grouse on the 

 moors of the West of Scotland and of the Western Isles, and 

 to this John Colquhoun adds that " Grouse are never so plentiful 

 on the west coast, from the wet springs addling so many of the 

 eggs." And again, " Protect as strictly as possible, and kill 

 every rapacious bird and beast on the ground, there never could 

 be half as many Grouse reared in the west as in the north or 

 centre Highlands ; and the reason is the humid climate pre- 

 vents it. Every sportsman knows that the Grouse in the north 

 or centre Highlands of Scotland are immensely more numerous 

 than in the watery west." l 



The nesting season of 1906 was most typically a bad wet 

 season everywhere, and in walking over some of the Scottish 

 moors, south of Perth at any rate, nest after riest was found 

 to be deserted with a full clutch of eggs in which the chicks 

 had died just before the time of hatching. Second broods are in 

 such cases no doubt produced, but if an early winter sets in, or 

 if the autumn turns wet and cold, these late-hatched broods 

 swell the ranks of the poorly-feathered, undersized birds which 

 appear next spring as " piners," and are liable to succumb 

 eventually to disease of one sort or another. The question 

 of the diminished value of second broods is fully discussed in 

 a later chapter. 2 



1 Colquhoun, " Moor and Loch," vol. i. pp. 194-198. 



2 Chap, xv. pp. 335 et seq. 



