500 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



regarded rather as a summary of existing evidence than as an absolute solution 

 of a problem which from its very nature admits of no universal answer. 



On those moors which are covered with heather, and which show no tendency 

 Sheep ad- to rev ert to grass, a sheep stock is distinctly beneficial to Grouse, and 

 on n heft e he"y severa ^ moor-owners have informed the Committee that in order to 

 moors. maintain the full stock of birds they have found it advisable to re-stock 

 cleared ground with sheep. The reason for this is not far to seek. The paths 

 and small open spaces made by sheep form excellent drying ground for young 

 birds. The hollows that sheep scoop out for themselves, in dry banks facing 

 the sun, form admirable dusting places for coveys, and often add to the grit 

 supplies of a moor. The heather growth is improved (1) by the sheep 

 eating down the young heather, and so causing it to grow short and thick 

 and form a close dense canopy which helps to resist the ravages of frost in 

 spring ; (2) by their eating down the grass ; and (3) by their treading the 

 surface of the ground, thus hardening it and preventing the growth of moss. 

 It is also possible that sheep droppings may increase the number of flies and 

 beetles on which the Grouse chicks feed so largely. The very fact that sheep 

 and shepherds are on the moor is apt to be an incentive to extensive heather 

 burning, while their presence acts as a deterrent to poachers. 



While all these benefits accrue from moderate sheep stocks, certain dis- 

 advantages have to be reckoned with in all cases where sheep are allowed 

 access to a moor. 



As has been pointed out in chapter xviii. in the case of old stick heather, 

 the whole growth, and in the case of twenty-year old heather, a considerable 

 portion of the growth springs again from seed after the moor has been fired. The 

 tendency of sheep is to crowd on to the recently-burned patches for the young 

 sweet grasses that grow there. The tender, slightly-rooted heather seedlings 

 are pulled up wholesale and, if the stock of sheep is excessive, it may take 

 years before the heather will once more assert itself as the dominant crop. 1 



On land which has a tendency to go back to green ground, the control 



of sheep stock is an even more important matter than it is on the average 



heather-covered moor. in this case there is a risk, not merely of 



Sheep on 



grassy the return to heather being delayed, but even of the total extinction 



of the heather crop. Such extinction of the heather would be against 



the interests of sheep as well as Grouse, for it is well known that a certain 



1 Vide PI. LVII. 



