300 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



than Coccidiosis which could be responsible for such 

 mortality ? 



(3) If no other cause of mortality could be found was there 



any direct evidence that the mortality was due to 

 Coccidiosis ? 



(4) What effect, if any, had the numbers and health of the 



parent birds upon the numbers and health of the 

 chicks ? 



(5) Whether the best- watered ground carried a better 



stock than the less well watered ground? 



It was quite evident that no accurate observations on 

 mortality among chicks could be based upon the number of 

 chicks found dead, for thousands might die undiscovered, it 

 was therefore decided to base the investigation upon the average 

 number of eggs successfully hatched, and the average number 

 of young birds counted in the coveys at the beginning of the 

 shooting season. This method was found to be extremely 

 satisfactory, and threw light upon many points in the life 

 history of the Grouse which had not hitherto come under 

 observation. 



For the purpose of collecting evidence, a table of queries was 

 drawn up and sent to 300 correspondents. Of the reports 

 received from these correspondents, one hundred and forty 

 of the most explicit were selected, and the contents were 

 tabulated. 



The evidence obtained was somewhat unexpected. The 

 drought did not appear to have caused universal mortality 

 among the young stock, on the contrary, the yield of Grouse 

 in the majority of districts was abnormally large, and the stock 

 of birds throughout the country was probably greater than it 

 had been since the magnificent Grouse years of the early 

 seventies. Record bags were reported from a number of moors. 

 In Perthshire, and the Border Districts, and in certain 

 parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire records were the rule 

 rather than the exception, and in some cases the bags 

 were two or three times as large as they had ever been 



