The Red Grouse Introduction and Maintenance. 113 



upon the assiduity with which vermin is killed down and 

 upon the careful protection of the game from poachers, 

 but also to a considerable extent on guarding the birds 

 against the evils incidental to sheep-farming and on the 

 periodical introduction of fresh blood in the shape of eggs 

 brought from a distance, hatched out either under a hen 

 grouse naturally or hand-reared and turned down. Moors 

 will sometimes get game-sick, and the production of a super- 

 abundance of birds will often bring about an epidemic 

 " disease/' which will be set down to a dozen causes other 

 than the right one. 



