STOCK 459 



are too numerous. He himself is often a fine shot ; but the same cannot always 

 be said of his friends. The close-sitting bird of August 12th, or the reluctant 

 "up- winder" in an evening drive, may be killed even by the novice; but once 

 the birds get strong on the wing, or fly with any degree of rapidity, twisting 

 towards the spaces between the guns, rather than following an owl - like 

 course over the centre of the butt, a very different standard of marksmanship 

 is called for. Such birds appear to be immune from all pellets except those 

 in the very centre of the charge. If the lessee does not succeed in thoroughly 

 reducing his stock by early September there is little hope of much being done 

 in the later weeks of the season ; he has probably no great acquaintance amongst 

 the " hardy locals," and he will fail to decoy his club friends from London to 

 drive Grouse once the Partridge season has set in. 



To avoid this state of things, of frequent, one might almost say regular, 

 occurrence on many moors, it is necessary to adopt certain practical expedients. 

 The keeper should be instructed to get about the moor in the 



t- i Early in- 



earher part 01 the nesting season to ascertain what stock of birds formation 

 is actually on the ground and whether they are healthy ; he should 

 mark down nests on each of the beats, and report by the middle of June 

 how many of these nests have hatched off, and with what results. The 

 Grouse is a particularly hardy bird, and provided that the stock is on the 

 ground, and the eggs have hatched out, it is possible to estimate with some 

 certainty the probable stock which will be available for sport in the shooting 

 season. 



The modern methods of Partridge management require that the keeper 

 should know not only the number of pairs on each beat, but even the number of 

 eggs laid in every nest. Such accuracy is not necessary for the observa- 

 Grouse keeper. He should have a rough knowledge of the num ber ^ s "? n of aud 

 of breeding pairs on his ground, and from these, by observation hatchin g- 

 of the average yield of marked nests, he should be able to give a shrewd 

 guess of the number of birds that should come to the gun. 



The result from hatchings varies much less than most people suppose. 

 It takes a very bad year to reduce the average yield of a pair of birds below 

 3'5 of young brought to the gun, and only in very exceptional years does 

 the average covey exceed 5 '2 of young birds. 



Many keepers will not readily undertake the responsible duty of estimating 

 the probable stock ; but it is not really necessary that they should do so for 



