258 THE GROUSE 



kind, but many of the former strongholds 

 of the blackgame now know them no more, 

 or only in sadly reduced numbers. 



Many reasons can be adduced to 

 account for this lamentable decrease, 

 besides the untimely date on which they 

 can legally be shot, which has already been 

 referred to. In some districts excessive 

 poaching, to which their habits render them 

 peculiarly liable, and the over- prevalent 

 custom of shooting greyhens, have un- 

 doubtedly much to answer for, while in 

 others the changes in the nature of the 

 ground they chiefly favoured through 

 young woods growing up and the drain- 

 age of modern agriculture must have 

 helped to drive them away. Heavy toll 

 is taken of them, too, by tenants and 

 occupiers of small strips of cultivated 

 land adjoining the moors, whose stooks 

 and stubbles draw every bird in the 

 countryside after harvest. 



Time was when blackgame were to be 

 found in almost every county of England ; 

 now they are dying out in all, except in 



