396 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



much depends on the keeper, not only with regard to the bag 

 to be obtained, but also with regard to the satisfaction of 

 successful management, the pleasure and interest of well- 

 organised shooting, that no effort should be spared to secure 

 the suitable man. 



The keeper's duties in regard to vermin, poaching, control 

 of old heather, and stock regulation are dealt with in other parts 

 of this book. 1 Certain general rules of conduct are however 

 worth noting. 



The first rule to be laid down is that a good gamekeeper 

 should never be idle. It is a fair criticism to make that laziness 

 is the commonest fault in gamekeepers. Also that this laziness 

 in the majority of cases arises from ignorance and not from 

 malice prepense. 



Many zealous young gamekeepers have been brought up 

 to believe that their whole duties are to burn the heather in 

 the spring, to attend upon the guns in the shooting season, 

 and during the remainder of the year to keep their eyes open, 

 but on no account to disturb their ground. This belief is con- 

 venient for the idle, and had its origin no doubt from small 

 shootings, where one man has charge of both Grouse moor 

 and low ground. The sequence of duties on such shootings 

 goes on without a break from heather-burning to Pheasant- 

 rearing, and from Grouse shooting to covert shooting ; a 

 sufficient round of activity to occupy the keeper's time through- 

 out the year. The arrangement was probably considered 

 satisfactory from the point of view of estate economy, even if 

 it did not give a maximum yield of Grouse. 



Where a keeper has charge of Grouse ground and Grouse 

 ground only, a higher standard should be aimed at. He must 

 discard the old belief in an " off season," for the " off season " 

 should be his busy time. He must overcome his dread of 

 disturbing his ground even at the breeding season, for it is then 

 - that there is most to be learned as to the nesting capacity 

 of his beat, and the means by which this nesting capacity 



1 Vide pp. 405 et seq., 411 et seq., 343 et seq., 415 et seq. 



