KEEPERS AND KEEPERING 399 



for the burn which has run dry, or a drain and conduits may be 

 constructed to bring a copious supply of running water through 

 the driest parts of the moor. Bad feeding may be improved by 

 intelligent heather culture, gravel may be exposed, or heaps of 

 broken quartz deposited, in the soft, peaty parts of the ground 

 where there is a deficiency of grit ; and thus the nesting capacity 

 of the moor may be extended. It may be argued that the Grouse 

 will always prefer to nest in the places which possess the best 

 natural conditions, and this is no doubt true ; still a season will 

 come when a specially heavy stock has been left, and the posses- 

 sion of a reserve of nesting ground may mean the salvation of 

 a moor which otherwise would become overcrowded. 



On his visits of inspection during the nesting season the Improve- 

 keeper's hands should never be empty, and his eyes should drains and 

 never be closed to the work to be done, the drainer's spade s P rm s - 

 will be found more useful than the gun, ten minutes' work 

 will convert a choked up spring into a clear drinking pool, 

 the dangerous banks of steep-sided drains may be sloped away 

 at suitable intervals, so as to make safe landing stages for any 

 chicks that may be caught unawares by a thunder shower. 

 The fan-shaped morass which spreads down hill from every 

 spouting spring will be tapped at its source, and thus acres of 

 green moss and rushes will be reclaimed again to heather. 

 These will not be the only advantages gained ; every stroke of 

 the spade will turn up the grit so often described as " the life 

 of the moor." 



There is no room for vermin and an active gamekeeper on Destruc- 



tion of 



the same beat. His constant presence drives away what he vermin, 

 cannot destroy, or at least disturbs the raiders in the prosecution 

 of their designs. The methods of trapping or otherwise destroy- 

 ing vermin are dealt with in another part of this chapter, and 

 here it is only necessary to say that whenever the keeper sees 

 a fox or a stoat or a hooded crow upon his ground he should 

 never rest until he has made an end of it. Every addled Grouse's 

 egg should be given a chance of retrieving its failure by becoming 

 the death-meal of some mountain robber. A keeper should be 



