432 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



clause in the agreement. It is only in a " bumper " year that 

 the question of stock management becomes an urgent one. 



In places where the migration of Grouse is the rule, efficient 

 regulation is impossible without co-operation among proprietors. 

 It matters little that one moor-owner should kill down his birds 

 to the limit of safety if there are too many Grouse in the 

 district, for other birds will crowd into his ground from 

 adjoining moors, or his own stock may migrate for the winter 

 to some other district where there is already an overstock. 

 If, however, moor-owners would combine to reduce the stocks 

 upon their individual moors the whole district would benefit. 

 Each owner should make it his object to kill down his Grouse 

 until only an average winter stock remains. The task will 

 not be an easy one, for in an exceptionally good season it is 

 almost impossible to make any real impression on the stock. 

 There is little risk of over-shooting, for even if a proprietor 

 succeeds in killing every Grouse upon his ground, it is quite 

 certain that his neighbours will not be equally successful, and 

 by the nesting season his moor will be more than sufficiently 

 stocked by birds which had been crowded out from elsewhere. 



The Committee suggest that where a series of moors adjoin, 

 and where the birds by migration are common in a sense to 

 the whole range, the proprietors, with those of the shooting 

 tenants who grasp the stock problem, should come to an under- 

 standing as to the best procedure for their common interests. 

 It is suggested 



Firstly. That all should agree to get full information as 

 to the prospects of the season at the earliest possible 

 date, either on the lines already suggested in this 

 chapter, or by any other means that may seem best 

 to the individual proprietors or tenants. 

 Secondly. That at some date early in July the interested 

 parties should meet and agree whether the year 

 is one in which the birds should be (i.) shot in the 

 ordinary way ; (ii.) shot heavily ; or (iii.) really 

 " harried," 



