CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN THE RED GROUSE 173 



always be found on the edges of the burns and springs nearest to their nests. 

 They are reported to suffer seriously in a drought. But when all is said, 

 excessive heat and drought are far less to be feared in the British Isles than 

 excessive wet and cold. Sunstroke, "staggers," and " splanders " in wild birds 

 of any kind are extremely rare when compared with the results of an exces- 

 sively wet hatching season, especially if it happens to be accompanied by cold. 

 Too much wet is undoubtedly more harmful both to the sitting hens, to the 

 eggs, and to the young birds when hatched, and for a month at least after 

 hatching, than any other climatic extreme to which Grouse are subject. 



Excessive 



Excessive rainfall is said to account for the scarcity of Grouse on wet a great 

 the moors of the west of Scotland and of the Western Isles, and 

 to this John Colquhoun adds that " Grouse are never so plentiful on the 

 west coast, from the wet springs addling so many of the eggs." And 

 again, " Protect as strictly as possible, and kill every rapacious bird and beast 

 on the ground, there never could be half as many Grouse reared in the west 

 as in the north or centre Highlands ; and the reason is the humid climate 

 prevents it." 



"Every sportsman knows that the Grouse in the north or centre Highlands 

 of Scotland are immensely more numerous than in the watery west." 



The nesting season of 1906 was most typically a bad wet season everywhere, 

 and in walking over some of the Scottish moors, south of Perth at any rate, nest 

 after nest was found to be deserted with a full clutch of eggs in which the 

 chicks had died just before the time of hatching. Second broods are in such 

 cases no doubt produced, but if an early winter sets in, or if the autumn turns 

 wet and cold, these late-hatched broods swell the ranks of the poorly- 

 feathered, undersized birds which appear in spring as "piners," and broods and 



.. , , late birds. 



are liable to succumb eventually to disease of one sort or another. 



The question of the diminished value of second broods is fully discussed in 



another part of this Report. 3 



In every way, except in checking the growth of the heather, hard frosts and 

 heavy snow do less harm than excessive rains. A certain number of Effect of 

 hens may be occasionally frozen to death upon their nests, as has been ^foo^ '' 

 recorded by Stuart- Wortley (Fur and Feather Series). Eggs, too, su PP lv - 

 may be " frosted " when late frosts are sufficiently severe, 4 or young Grouse 



1 Colquhoun, "Moor and Loch," vol. i. pp. 194-198. 2 Ibid., p. 198. 3 Chap. xxi. pp. 469 et seq. 



* W. A. Adams, "Twenty-six years' Reminiscences' of Scotch Grouse Moors," p. 94. London: Horace 

 Cox, 1889. 



