THE RED GROUSE. 313 



also subject to a certain disease, of most frequent occur- 

 rence in wet and unfavourable seasons. 



The Grouse has not far to search for his food. His 

 seemingly barren home, arid and sterile at a glance as 

 it seems to be, is yet a sumptuous storehouse. The 

 heath with which the moor and mountain sides are 

 clothed affords him its tender shoots ; the bilberry and 

 cranberry, that grow over the rocks and stud the heath 

 with their dark green patches of foliage, yield him a 

 plentiful crop of fruit, on which he greedily feeds in the 

 autumn months. The rank vegetation also affords him 

 its seeds, and grubs and insects abound in the summer 

 months. When the snow lies deep over the wild, the 

 Grouse repairs to the hollows and places where the snow 

 was driven past, and ekes out his sustenance from the 

 buds and tender shoots of the herbage ; or, perched in the 

 branches of the silver birch, he picks out the seeds and 

 buds. Where the Grouse is carefully preserved the 

 heath is burnt down in large patches yearly, and the 

 young tender shoots of its returning vegetation are a 

 highly prized delicacy of the birds, who flock to these 

 patches in immense numbers. The bird, however, is not 

 a gregarious one ; still the broods and their parents often 

 remain in company till the following mating season. 



In the winter months the Grouse is the only bird 

 seen in any numbers in the upland wilds. True, the 

 Kestrel sometimes pays him a visit, and the Merlin 

 has his home amongst the rocky boulders. Yet the 

 little Pipits we saw on every side in summer have 

 now left for the warmer lowlands and pastures ; the 

 Curlews and the Plovers have bid the moor adieu, and 

 are gone far away to the distant coast ; and now in 

 winter, with the exception of a wisp of Snipe, or mayhap 

 a storm-driven Mallard or Gull, the moor is in the sole 



