1 1 8 Practical Game Preserving. 



of action which might lead them to roam too far afield by 

 day, and to seek to take up their quarters beneath some 

 bush or tuft of heather or brake by night, instead of finding 

 their way back with the hens to their coops, to which it 

 will mostly be found necessary to guide them, and close 

 them in for the night. Young grouse, hand-reared, are 

 not subject to disease like young pheasants, but many will 

 often be invalided by such maladies as are brought on by 

 the inclemency of the weather ; for instance, cramp, catarrh, 

 and the like. The treatment is as for pheasants. They 

 will, however, die off sometimes in a most disappointing 

 way ; this is generally due to unsuitability of the site or 

 mismanagement in the rearing. 



As soon as the youngsters have acquired sufficient plumage 

 and experience to fly a short distance, they may be taken 

 away to a part of the moor not too thickly tenanted with 

 birds, where they may be turned down at a spot where 

 shelter, food, and "dryth" are plentiful, and whence they 

 may easily reach and mingle with naturally reared birds, 

 and learn the mysteries of grouse life. Broods of young 

 birds so turned away should be visited every day or so, 

 for a week or two, to make sure that they are thriving, and 

 not being killed off by vermin, &c. At first, perhaps, 

 a few oats and wheat may be thrown down every morning, 

 in case, owing to inexperience of wild life, they may not 

 otherwise obtain a sufficiency of food. 



We are not aware whether it has been found practicable 

 to bring red grouse into a state of semi-domestication, and 

 obtain from them a large supply of eggs, as is done from 

 pheasants. With black game it has proved satisfactory 



