486 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



In the spring of 1909 a healthy lot of birds were left, and after the sad 



1909. experience of 1908 with foster-mothers it was decided to let the 



Grouse hatch their own eggs. They nested well and sat well ; but again the 



Grouse as experiment was marred by two misfortunes. One hen was frightened 



!rs ' by a fox, and injured herself so seriously in her efforts to escape that 



she was found dead in the morning, and many of the nests being on low ground 



were washed out and spoilt by heavy thunderstorms just as the eggs were about 



to hatch ; still eleven birds were hatched and successfully reared. Thus in all, 



up to 1909, in spite of misfortunes, twenty-three birds had been successfully 



hatched and reared on the experimental area. And it must be remembered 



that the work really was experimental in every way, and every credit is due 



to Parker, the keeper, for the way in which he has carried out the experiments, 



for he had never seen Grouse till these birds were sent to him, everything 



Parker's na( ^ * ^ e explained to him, and the birds were kept under the most 



artificial conditions possible, both as to environment and climate. 



In 1908 and 1909 a number of Grouse were received from correspondents, 

 and during both these years, and especially in 1909, a considerable number of 

 birds were used for experimental purposes. At the end of 1909 it was found 

 Change of tnat there were more birds left on the Observation Area than the 

 keeper could attend to, and it was decided that if further accommoda- 

 tion could be found some of the birds should be moved. Dr Paterson of the 

 Frimley Sanatorium kindly offered to take charge of some of them, and in 

 December 1909 six cocks and six hens were removed to the grounds of that 

 institution, leaving six pairs on Mr Pain's ground with some birds that were 

 being experimented upon. 



The birds that were removed to the Sanatorium were not put on such good 

 ground as at Mr Pain's, and the conditions are far more artificial ; but they 

 have done fairly well. 



The Grouse on Mr Pain's ground in 1910 were left to hatch out their own 

 eggs, and did remarkably well. The number of chickens hatched is given at the 

 end of this chapter. 



With those at the Sanatorium again the experiment has been tried of 



A second nate hing under foster - mothers, but it has not been a success ; not 



with one chicken was rear ed. If foster-mothers are to be used experiment 



f0 ot?T _ would show that the ordinary hen is too clumsy ; bantams might be 



more successful. 



