438 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



" In the pairing season the old warriors come down from 

 the heights, fight with and vanquish the younger ones, and 

 absorb the young hens ; the latter lay nests full of eggs, but 

 they are sterile, while the more youthful and capable cock 

 bird, who would become the parent of a healthy brood, is either 

 driven off the ground altogether or obliged to remain in a 

 state of combative celibacy. 



' The old hen also, who is beyond the age of laying, attacks 

 any young hen who may nest near her, driving her off her 

 nest, thus causing the eggs to get cold, and the incubation 

 to be abortive. 



"It is well known that in deer forests, where the great 

 object is to get rid of Grouse, the best means to arrive at this 

 end is to leave them alone altogether. The result is that in 

 a great measure they die out ; or at any rate their numbers 

 dwindle to the lowest possible point." l 



" Another trouble results from the presence of these useless 

 old cocks, namely, over-sitting. Probably if one chicken 

 hatches the mother leaves the rest of the eggs, and so though 

 the brood is lost it cannot often end in the bird's death. But 

 when a whole nestful of unfertile eggs has been laid the hen 

 may continue to sit long after the time when a brood of chickens 

 should have appeared, and may even be found on her eggs 

 dead from exhaustion and disease." 



All the views expressed above are fully endorsed by the 

 Committee. There is no doubt that old birds are a danger 

 to a moor, and tend to the degeneration of the stock, for not 

 only are they more pugnacious than the younger birds, but 

 they do not produce such large coveys nor such robust offspring. 



All moor-owners who take an interest in the improvement 

 of their stock make it a rule to ascertain as nearly as possible 

 the proportion of young birds to old upon their ground, and 

 whenever they succeed in reducing the proportion of old birds 

 the stock is found to improve. 



One of the Committee's correspondents has made a series 



1 Fur and Feather Series, "The Grouse," p. 148. 



