414, THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



should be instructed to assist in keeping the birds off the com, 

 and any old cocks that he may shoot should be given to the 

 tenant as a solatium for damage done. 



One form of poaching remains to be mentioned, namely, 

 the catching of live birds and the stealing of eggs with a view 

 to selling them for the restocking of other ground. Catching 

 Grouse alive is perfectly legitimate where a man nets only the 

 birds bred upon his own moor, or on a moor which he has 

 rented for the purpose, but in some districts in the north of 

 England, notably in Cumberland, the practice has developed 

 into an abuse. It is a well-known fact that certain small free- 

 holders on the edge of the hill land who have no Grouse of 

 their own take a heavy toll of the birds which visit their 

 ground from neighbouring moors. 1 An example of the damage 

 done is furnished by one of the Committee's correspondents, who 

 writes as follows : " Owing to the present system of netting on 

 small holdings, Grouse preserving in Cumberland is a snare and 

 a delusion. To give an instance my moor in the neighbourhood 

 of - , of about 3,000 acres, used to give a yearly bag of about 

 eight or nine hundred brace, and was worth about 500 a year to 

 let, now two or three hundred brace, all shot in the first fortnight 

 to save them from being caught in nets, with a rent of about 

 100 a year, represents the present return." The only method 

 of checking this evil would be for purchasers to agree to boycott 

 all sources of supply that are open to suspicion. 



Egg-stealing is not a very common form of poaching ; 

 Grouse eggs travel badly, and the advantage of introducing 

 fresh blood by the importation of eggs has yet to be proved.- 

 The practical difficulties also are considerable. 



1 The following passage is worth quoting : " The cause of offence may be only a tiny 

 strip of sour pasture, heathcrless, Grouseless, perhaps not worth sixpence au acre, for 

 any purpose but one. Its want of food and shelter may be so evident that birds seldom 

 light on it, but they have to fly over it, and nets judiciously arranged and managed 

 will, in the course of a season, capture a very large number of them, and do very great 

 harm to the adjoining beats." G. W. Hartley, in " Victoria History of the Counties of 

 England, Cumberland," edited by James Wilson, M.A., vol. ii. p. 439. London : 

 Archibald Constable & Co., Ltd., 1905. Vide also Fur and Feather Series, "The 

 Grouse," pp. 76-77. 



a Vide chap. xv. p. 445. 



