488 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



kept in health. Grit must be supplied from the earliest stage of the bird's 

 existence ; it has been found in the gizzard of a Grouse chick not forty-eight 

 hours old. 



When quite young Grouse will thrive on hard-boiled eggs and young heather, 

 but the best food for them is fresh ants' " eggs " ; care must be taken not 



. . , > 



young to give the ants as well as the " eggs." The method pursued on the 

 experimental area to get rid of the ants is to put the nest in the 

 oven for a very few minutes ; this kills the ants, but does not seem to hurt the 

 "eggs." 1 



The birds on the experimental area have remained in splendid 



condition and plumage. During the four years deaths have been rare 



among them and have generally been due to accident or misadventure ; the 



old birds of 1906 are still there. Some birds become wonderfully tame, 



but others seem always to retain their natural wildness ; the cocks, as 



a rule, are bolder, and become tame sooner than the hens. Most of the male 



Mating birds resent any interference in their matrimonial arrangements, and 



time. their resentment is shown in many interesting ways. 



On approaching the coops the cocks at once begin to crow, or rather talk ; 

 some will mount on the little faggots of heather supplied for food, and strut, and 

 talk, and crow, swelling out their throats, elevating their supra-orbital combs, 

 drooping the wings and fanning out their tails, as if defending their wives the 

 whole attitude denoting readiness to fight. In fact, one of the birds has been 

 known at the mating time to follow the keeper's wife (to whom he is usually 

 very attached), out of his pen, pecking at her as hard as he could ; while the 

 oldest cock of all, usually quite tame, will always attack the keeper if he enters 

 the coop when the hen is on her nest. 



As the birds can be observed at a very close distance the plumage can be 

 studied ; and the way in which the wings are carried, and the peculiar fan-shaped 

 form of the tail during the courting process, is well worthy of observation. 



Mention has been made of the necessity of constantly changing the ground 

 on which the coops are placed ; the more often this can be done of course the 

 Fresh better for the birds. But it is only fair to say that for the purpose 

 fiwa"^ 110 * f cer tain experiments some of the birds were kept on the same 

 essential, ground for months, and it did not seem to do them the least harm ; 

 they remained all the time in excellent health and plumage. 



1 Really the pupae of ants, popularly known as " ants' eggs." 



