472 PRESS OPINIONS 



Nature, October 26th, 1911. 



Although, as its name implies, the ( ' Grouse Disease " Inquiry Committee 

 was formed to investigate the nature and causes of the mortality which has 

 been so prevalent of late years in the one species of game bird peculiar to 

 the British Isles, it has accomplished a great deal more than this. For in 

 the handsome volumes before us we have the life-history and organisation of 

 the Grouse, coupled with those of the various parasites by which it is infested, 

 described in a manner never before attempted in the case of any other wild 

 bird. This magnificent piece of work, it should be added, has been carried 

 out from start to finish by private effort and enterprise ; for although the 

 Committee was officially appointed by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 

 in the spring of 1905, its funds have been entirely furnished by private 

 subscriptions. The whole investigation is, indeed, a striking, and we believe, 

 a unique example of what can be done by the combined efforts of sportsmen, 

 gamekeepers, field-observers, and biological experts ; and to Lord Lovat, the 

 chairman, and all those who have worked with him are due the gratitude of 

 naturalists and sportsmen, not only in the British Islands, but throughout 

 the world. 



