392 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



The loss arising from bad or insufficient keepering is often 

 not fully appreciated. A very small number of stoats or hooded 

 crows do an amount of damage which would exceed the annual 

 cost of an extra hand. If we realise that cases can be quoted 

 where a single pair of " hoodies " have been responsible for the 

 destruction of a hundred eggs, or where individual foxes and 

 peregrines have killed a score of paired birds (equivalent to 

 the loss of fifty brace in the shooting season), it is no exaggeration 

 to say that on good Grouse ground adequate supervision must 

 be obtained at any cost. It is difficult to lay down exactly the 

 extent of ground for which an under-keeper can be responsible. 

 This varies with the shape of the beat, the character of the 

 ground, the stock of birds, the quantity of vermin, the amount 

 of night watching required, and the outside duties under the 

 keeper's charge such as rabbit-trapping, low-ground watching, 

 fishing, etc. It may, however, be said that on a hill moor 

 with no low ground one keeper should be able to trap, and with 

 proper assistance to burn, from 2,000 to 4,000 acres. 



As to the selection of keepers some owners have a preference 

 for dalesmen, some prefer south country Scots ; some, very 

 rightly, have a prejudice against men who have come from a 

 rich man's employ ; others will only take men off a moor on 

 which a big staff of keepers is kept. It is difficult to generalise. 

 Good men, like good horses, run in all shapes and from all 

 countries, but it will probably be found advisable, where possible, 

 to take a man who has been " through the mill," who has acted 

 as a kennel-boy under a head-keeper, who is himself a good 

 trapper and an honest man. 



Whatever fancies may influence the selection of the keeper 

 the essential qualifications can readily be defined. A keeper 

 must be a good trapper, an observer of natural conditions, 

 and a man with the interests of the moor at heart ; above all 

 things, he must be a worker, not a gentleman who goes to the hill 

 with a gun. 



It is hardly necessary to point out that when the good man 

 has been secured, he must be kept up to his work by periodical 



