STOCK 443 



the figures in column 5a on p. 418. On the moor in question 

 the bag in 1866 was three thousand four hundred and two 

 Grouse ; in 1867 it was one Grouse. The gamekeeper in charge 

 of the ground gave the following evidence on the subject : 

 " In 1867 there were only about four Grouse left on this moor 

 of 10,000 acres ; in 1868 there were only two broods. The 

 four birds appeared to be pined and very weak. I could not 

 make out whether these bred, or whether the two pairs had 

 come from some other place. I would rather say that these 

 birds were so badly affected that it was not possible that they 

 could recover." 



Even assuming that the four birds that were left on the 

 ground had been the parents of the two broods referred to, 

 it would have been quite impossible for them to have been 

 the sole progenitors of the large stock which rapidly reappeared 

 and yielded bags of 530 Grouse in 1870, 1,621 in 1871, and 

 3,548 in 1872. There can be no doubt that the restocking 

 of this moor was due to immigration of birds from elsewhere, 

 and this restocking would have been even more rapid had it 

 not been that 1867 was a fatal year throughout the length 

 and breadth of the borders, and there were few Grouse surviving 

 in the district. In a " disease " year a moor in the Highlands 

 of Scotland sometimes appears to be cleared of every bird, yet, 

 if the feeding is good, it is fully stocked again within two years. 



The conclusion is irresistible that, where Grouse are 

 migratory, it is quite unnecessary to use artificial expedients 

 for the purpose of changing the blood. One heavy snowstorm 

 will do more to shuffle the pack than the introduction of hundreds 

 of purchased birds. Moreover, it often happens that imported 

 Grouse do not remain on the ground where they are turned 

 down. Gamekeepers, it is true, will always profess to recognise 

 the foreign strain for many generations by some real or imaginary 

 peculiarity of plumage ; it is difficult to verify their statements 

 except by marking the birds, and wherever marking has been 

 resorted to it is found that the imported birds have wandered 

 far afield. 



