430 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



one, and it is this migratory habit of the Grouse which has so 

 often defeated individual efforts at stock management. 



It has been pointed out in another part of the work that in 

 many districts Grouse annually move about in large packs, 

 often leaving the high ground for weeks, or even months, at 

 a time, and congregating on the lower moors. 1 When this 

 occurs it is obviously impossible for a moor-owner to gauge 

 the numbers of birds belonging to his ground which still survive 

 the shooting season, for he may either find that every bird has 

 left the moor, or alternatively that his own home stock is 

 largely augmented by foreign visitors. In the former case it 

 will be impossible to reduce his stock, for the birds are no longer 

 there to be shot ; in the latter case the packs are usually so 

 large that any shooting that may be possible can make but 

 little impression on the stock. The difficulty is further increased 

 by the fact that it is usually late in the autumn before the 

 seasonal migrations of Grouse occur, often after the close of 

 the shooting season, when no legitimate means are available 

 for the destruction of the birds. 



Owners have always been ready to admit the principle 

 that there is danger in leaving too large a stock, and some even 

 go so far as to put the principle into practice by instructing 

 their gamekeepers to kill down the Grouse by systematic 

 driving or " stooking " after the regular shooting has come to 

 an end. This practice may result in the reduction of the 

 stocks by a few hundred birds ; but is of little practical value 

 unless it be carried out on a large scale throughout a wide 

 district. Other moor-owners adopt a neutral attitude. An 

 owner of a high-lying moor will contend that he has nothing 

 to fear from leaving a large stock upon his ground since the 

 birds will migrate in the autumn to lower ground, when their 

 numbers will be reduced either by shooting or by disease, and 

 thus the stock will be brought to reasonable dimensions before 

 they return to breed in the spring. The answer to this argument 

 is that if they are to be reduced by shooting it would be more 



1 Vide chap. i. pp._,29 i 



