KEEPERS AND KEEPERING 397 



might be improved. He will not find that the hen bird will 

 desert merely because he happens to have located her nest, 

 whereas if he remains at home one pair of hoodie crows may do 

 as much harm as if he had spent a day walking over the moor 

 and putting his foot on every clutch. 1 



While it may be admitted that all needless disturbance is 

 bad it must be remembered that Nature has provided certain 

 safeguards for the protection of the stock at the most critical 

 period of their lives. It is almost impossible to flush Grouse at 

 this season, and one may walk all day over a well-stocked 

 moor without seeing any indication of the presence of birds 

 except by their droppings. Any birds that may be flushed 

 are usually cocks or barren pairs, and the sitting hens remain 

 undisturbed though the intruder may pass within a few yards 

 of them. 



Certain precautions must, of course, be observed, the keeper 

 must avoid all noise, and must not return again to the spot 

 when he has marked a sitting bird. He must creep about the 

 moor rather than walk openly, and above all he must not be 

 accompanied by a dog. 



There is a growing feeling among moor-owners that closer 

 supervision during the nesting season is desirable, and is not 

 necessarily followed by disastrous results. In another depart- 

 ment of game preserving the nesting arrangements of wild birds 

 are assisted by such plans as the so-called " Euston " or " Stetch- 

 worth " systems, whereby the period of incubation is shortened 



1 Many game preservers will challenge the foregoing remarks as contrary to all 

 accepted theories ; but against theory can be put actual experience. One example only 

 need be given : 



On a moor which has come under the Committee's observation, where the annual 

 bag has been known to reach the remarkable total of eighteen hundred brace off 2,000 

 acres of heather, the gamekeeper in charge, by close and constant attention to his 

 duties, is able to inform his employer whether it is to be an early or late nesting year, 

 whether the stock is large or small, whether the clutches are above or below the average, 

 and how each beat will turn out. This information is obtained by marking any nests 

 that may be found by chance (nests are not deliberately looked for), and by carefully 

 observing the droppings of the "clocking" hens and the young birds. As a rule this 

 gamekeeper and his master form a fairly accurate idea of how the season will turn out 

 even before the dogs are run in July ; after this final test it is possible to prophesy the 

 bag with some confidence. 



