138 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



The effect of the various influences which affect the weight of the healthy 

 Grouse are shown in Tables A, B, and C. 1 



It is unfortunate that some of the monthly averages have been taken from 

 such a limited number of birds. This, in the breeding season, is unavoidable. 

 There is a very natural objection to the wholesale destruction of healthy sitting 

 hens for any purpose. Even dead birds are less likely to be found at this time 

 of year than at any other, for the reason that the majority of gamekeepers 

 dislike the disturbance of their moor which is entailed by a systematic search. 



It is partly to this feeling amongst keepers that one should attribute the 

 prevalence of the belief that " Grouse Disease " mortality is confined to the spring 

 and autumn with a break between. There is no doubt that the least observed 

 and least understood portion of the life cycle of a Grouse moor is that which lies 

 between May when the early broods are hatched off and the end of July, when 

 the dogs are taken out to make a survey of the shooting prospects. Conversely, 

 too, from the intimate knowledge of the moor after August 12th, undue 

 importance has been attached to the idea of autumn disease owing to a certain 

 number of sickly birds being found in the August and September bags birds 

 which would otherwise have escaped notice altogether, but which were shot in 

 the day's sport, and afterwards picked out as "piners." The point is clearly 

 shown by Charts D, E, D 1 , E 1 , p. 139. 



It is by no means a rare thing to find hens weighing 14 and 15 ounces still 

 Weight as ca P a l e of flight. Often such birds are shot and afterwards picked 

 tioiTcrf Ca out f *h e *> a g as " piners " to be examined, and condemned as cases 

 disease. O f Disease. 



The appearances of ill-health are generally abundant. To begin with, the 

 bird is undersized, the bones are found to be unusually small in their measure- 

 ments and slight in their structure, suggesting that the bird was bred late in 

 the previous year. This gives it a bad beginning, and means that the bird, 

 lacking strength, suffered more than the early bred birds during the previous 

 winter months. If the bird is a hen, it will be evident from the naked skin 

 of the abdomen, from the delayed moult of the feathers of the upper parts, and 

 from the almost featherless condition of the legs and feet, that a long and 

 exhausting period of incubation has been endured, followed by a period of 

 incessant watchfulness while the young brood required protection. Often enough 

 a hen "piner" in this condition appears to have suffered from no more definite 



Vide p. 131. 



