172 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



namely, the rectum (PI. xvi.). This measures 4J to 5 

 inches from the point of entrance of the caecal appendices to 

 the anus. 



The rectum appears to empty its contents almost immedi- 

 ately after receiving anything from the main gut or the caeca. 

 When examined by dissection it is generally empty ; but there 

 is one marked exception to this statement. In the hen Grouse, 

 during the laying of eggs and incubation, but especially during 

 incubation, the want of exercise, and the necessity for keeping 

 the nest clean, leads to an excessive accumulation of faeces, 

 always of the harder, formed kind, in the lower part of the 

 rectum. This accumulation of faeces results in an enlargement 

 and distention of the lower part of the rectum and the 

 cloaca, which recover themselves only after incubation and 

 hatching are completed. The massed and bulky droppings of 

 a sitting hen Grouse, or " clocker " as she is called, afford 

 useful information concerning the number of nests upon a 

 moor. 



As these " docker's " droppings are only to be seen in the 

 nesting season, it is perhaps not surprising that the keeper 

 alone recognises what they mean. They are usually to be found 

 along the side of burns and springs. Such places are used 

 habitually by sitting hens when they leave their nests, perhaps 

 once or twice a day, for food, grit, and water, and these 

 droppings supply far more satisfactory evidence of the season's 

 prospects than could be gained by disturbing the birds on their 

 nests. 



This then is, as briefly as possible, the normal course of the 

 digestion and absorption of food by the Red Grouse, and it 

 remains now to speak of the more common variations and 

 disturbances which affect this process and which upset the 

 health of the bird. 



Many such variations have come to light during the past 

 seven years in the course of dissecting something like a couple 

 of thousand Grouse : of these some were healthy and some 

 unhealthy ; but in this chapter no account is given of damage 



