STOCK 469 



hard ; that " cheepers " should be universally exterminated ; and that 

 the birds should be killed in October and November when they are 

 massed on the low ground. 



While the Committee think it improbable that lessees could be got to combine 

 together to shoot lightly in bad seasons there seems no reason why they should 

 not agree to kill the birds hard in a really good year. The majority would 

 welcome the opportunity for making a record bag, while an increase in the 

 number of birds killed would improve the value of the moor to the landlord. 



In addition to regulating the numbers of his stock the moor-owner must 

 also consider how the birds may be maintained in health. The 

 practice of shooting down the stock severely .whenever the birds show 

 signs of disease has long been regarded as an established rule of moor stook> 

 management ; but it may be doubted whether the practice is justified. As a 

 rule when birds are weak and thin at the beginning of the shooting r>j sease d 

 season this is a sign that there has been an outbreak of disease in the 

 spring ; but the birds that have survived the epidemic have reached the 

 convalescent stage by August, and should be spared rather than destroyed, f >; 

 they will probably be completely restored to health by November, and will be 

 valuable as a breeding stock. This subject is fully discussed in another chapter. 1 

 The case is different when the bird is weak and undersized as a result of being 

 hatched late. The common custom of sparing "cheepers" in order 

 to give them time to develop as the season advances is one which ers " and 



late broods. 



cannot be too strongly condemned, for it is now believed that late 

 hatched birds are a serious menace to the health of the moor. 



This real menace has never been sufficiently considered, but would appear 

 to be one of the worst consequences of the loss of first broods, the full result of 

 which is felt far more seriously in the succeeding year than in the season when 

 it occurs. " Cheepers " of August are seriously handicapped for the remainder 

 of their lives. They often apparently come on quickly during the shooting 

 season, but are lacking in bodily vigour and hardness, and compared with the birds 

 that were hatched in May and early June they feel the pinch of winter badly. 

 The hens, exhausted by the double moult and the trials of nesting, succumb in 

 the succeeding spring with untold loss to the moor ; the cocks, undersized and 

 badly nourished by the end of winter, die in still larger numbers owing to the 

 exhaustion consequent upon their efforts to procure and to protect their mates. 



1 Vide chap. v. p. 128 (also chap. iii. p. 50). 



