44 THE GROUSE 



does not need stating that realisation of 

 this desire demands the closest attention 

 to a number of lines of management, of 

 which the first and most indispensable is 

 food. The food of grouse mainly consists 

 of that widely diffused variety of heather 

 known as ling (Calluna vulgaris). On the 

 extent and quality of the heather on the 

 moor hang success or failure when the 

 shooting period arrives. So much import- 

 ance is here given to heather and its 

 treatment in relation to grouse, that a 

 special analysis of this branch of manage- 

 ment of the moor is made in succeeding 

 pages, to which the reader is referred. 



Heather, as the staple and ordinary food 

 of grouse, is sometimes supplemented by 

 blaeberries and bilberries, and a growth of 

 these berry -producing plants should be 

 encouraged where opportunity is offered. 

 In very hard weather, when the heather is 

 laden with snow and becomes hardened 

 by frost, it is necessary to disengage the 

 frosted snow from the heather, which can 

 be done by dragging an extended rope 



