CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN THE RED GROUSE 143 



the resting condition of winter heather " frosted " is as un- 

 reasonable as to call any evergreen shrub " frosted " because 

 its winter leaves are darker in colour than those which it pro- 

 duces in early summer. 



Closely simulating the fox-red, frosted heather, however, 

 is the heather damaged by a certain beetle known as Lochmcea 

 suturalis. This pest has long been recognised in Argyllshire, 

 Ayrshire, and Dumbartonshire, and its ravages were described 

 by Mr Grimshaw in 1898. 1 This subject has been fully dealt 

 with in a later chapter. 2 



Before leaving the climatic causes of death and damage to Heavy 

 Grouse, something remains to be said about heavy snow. Its 

 most obvious danger lies, of course, in starvation, since a 

 heavy snowfall, unaccompanied by wind, and not followed by 

 a thaw for many weeks, reduces the available food supply to 

 a minimum, and drives the Grouse to travel far and wide 

 over cultivated lands, into gardens, town outskirts, and even 

 to the seashore for a scanty living. 



It is recognised that one of the best ways to help Grouse 

 under such circumstances is to lay bare patches of heather by 

 breaking through any hard crust that may have formed on the 

 surface of the snow. This may be done either by rakes or 

 harrows, and the spots chosen should be those where there is 

 known to be the best supply of good feeding heather. As a 

 rule there is sufficient wind with the snowfall to ensure that 

 large tracts of ground remain uncovered on exposed ridges, 

 and on the weather side of hill faces. When this is so, the 

 Grouse collect on them ; but as these exposed tracts are always 

 on the weather side, and almost always on the shoulder of a 

 hill, it is usually the worst heather which is exposed ; the lee 

 side is probably buried deep in snow. 



Attention has already been drawn to the benefit derived 

 from sheep and deer in time of snow, owing to the surface of 

 the snow being broken by their tracks. But although the 



1 " Annals of Scottish Natural History," vol. ii. p. 27. 



2 Vide chap. xiii. pp. 370 et seq. 



