HEATHER-BURNING 357 



Peat hags should be burned when the ground is not too p ea t 

 dry. Grouse are particularly fond of broken peat ground, and hag? * 

 the food supply of short gnarled heather that grows there 

 should be maintained at its highest. The peat itself occasion- 

 ally gets on fire, and has been known on occasion to burn 

 right down to the bed rock. In one or two cases that have come 

 to notice excellent heather has grown on the mineral soil thus 

 exposed. As the new growth in such cases may take twenty 

 or thirty years to come up, such burning is outside the rotation 

 that even the most progressive of moor-owners would care to 

 adopt. 



The sides of burns and streams are most important features Burns and 

 on a moor ; they are the favourite nesting places of Grouse, s 

 they afford shelter during storms, and are places where food 

 can be obtained in times of snow. They should be carefully 

 burned in very small patches, special care being taken to clear 

 up the immediate burn-side and prevent its being used as a 

 shelter for vermin, particularly for stoats, who otherwise use 

 it as a convenient covered way to reach their prey. 



It is hardly necessary to point out that in burning a moor Burning 

 the keeper must consider the method in which the shooting 

 is carried out. In the case of the driving moor broad belts 

 should be burned immediately in the rear and patches immedi- 

 ately in front of the butts to facilitate the " picking up " of 

 Grouse ; settling ground with good cover should be left in the 

 direction towards which it is intended to drive the birds. In the 

 case of " dogging " moors, favourite banks should have a special 

 allowance of long heather into which the birds can be worked 

 at the end of the day. In deer forests " the beds " on which 

 deer lie in the sheltered corries should be lightly burned. 



Heather can be burned at all times of the year in England. Limitation 

 In Scotland, by statute, heather-burning is confined to the burning. " 

 period from November 1st to April 10th. On high wet moors 

 an extension of the period to April 25th can be obtained. In 

 Wales, by custom, burning is usually carried on during the 

 spring months. 



