304 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



Perhaps the most striking fact brought out by the reports 

 was that even where the mortality among chicks was highest, 

 the results were by no means disastrous. It is true that in 

 such cases the yield was below the average, but the loss was 

 never anything like as serious as it would have been in the case 

 of even a moderately severe attack of Strongylosis among the 

 adult birds. In the cases where individual bags were noticeably 

 reduced it was usually found that the mortality among chicks 

 had been accompanied by a certain amount of mortality among 

 old birds. From this it would appear that Strongylosis is 

 more to be dreaded than Coccidiosis. 



It only remains to say a word as to the different results 

 obtained from well-watered and badly-watered ground. On 

 the whole, it was not found that there was much connexion 

 between the supply of water and the health of the stock. The 

 well-watered moors were quite as severely affected as the drier 

 ones ; in one case it was recorded that a whole covey of chicks 

 were found dead within a few yards of a drinking place. It is 

 true that in the autumn birds were found in greater numbers 

 on the wetter parts of the moors, but correspondents were 

 almost unanimously of the opinion that such birds were the 

 result of successful nesting on the drier parts and subsequent 

 migration . 



At the time of writing it is difficult to foretell what results 

 the drought of 1911 will have upon the Grouse stock of 1912. 

 The heather in 1911 had the appearance of being shrivelled and 

 parched by the heat, and the bloom was brief and not luxuriant ; 

 but we do not at present know enough to say whether this 

 would affect its food value through the winter. On the analogy 

 that a district with a low rainfall produces the best heather 

 for Grouse, there are grounds for the hope that the recent dry 

 season will have a similarly favourable effect. The test will be 

 a severe one, for the Grouse stocks left from 1911 were 

 abnormally large, and only the most favourable conditions 

 will enable them to safely survive the critical period of early 

 spring. 



