CHAPTER XVI.-THE RED GROUSE. 



PROTECTION. 



T^ROBABLY no kind of game offers such facilities to 

 JL vermin and poachers as red grouse ; yet in addition it 

 suffers considerably from the molestation of farmers and 

 shepherds, who we speak of those of evil intent although 

 practising arts equally reprehensible with those of poachers, yet 

 manage so to veil their malpractices as to keep outside the 

 pale of the law. Whatever may be said as to the wildness of 

 moorlands, and absence of animal life upon their slopes, those 

 who go in for preserving grouse will soon find that animal 

 life is by no means absent, particularly that of a predaceous 

 character. Both furred and feathered vermin, notably the 

 former, seem to be but too well aware of the opportunities 

 and scope these highlands offer for the exercise of their pre- 

 datory habits. Grouse suffer at all times from the attacks of 

 the weasel tribe, stoats and polecats on the half and full grown 

 birds, weasels on the eggs and chicks. The wild cat, which 

 is far from being extinct throughout the less cultivated and 

 barren lands of Scotland, Wales, and the northern counties 

 of England, also preys considerably upon grouse, and is ably 



