The Black Grouse Preserving. 137 



cattle and their attendant disturbances ; from the constant 

 crossing and re-crossing of persons at all hours of the 

 day, and, perhaps, night too ; and from the continual 

 raids of packs of harriers and fox hounds. These condi- 

 tions are a sine qua non of black game preservation, and 

 unless they are attended to, a fair head can never be kept 

 up, although by great endeavours a sprinkling of birds may 

 be temporarily established, quickly to dwindle down, and 

 eventually to disappear. 



Bearing these provisos well in mind, the preserver can 

 set about securing for himself the nucleus of a stock from 

 which to build up a head of heath poults. Two ways are 

 open to him either to turn away part or full grown birds 

 with a view to their reproduction, or to go in for hand- 

 rearing a number of young birds. The first course means 

 the purchase of a large number of, say, three-quarters 

 matured birds at a good price, and risk attendant on the 

 enterprise. For instructions as to procedure in this matter, 

 vide pp. 111-13. With regard to a good many matters of 

 black game preserving, our remarks in treating of red grouse 

 hold good, and we shall for the moment devote attention 

 to the hand-rearing of the black grouse. 



In the case of pheasant rearing, we found the diseases 

 to which the young chicks are subject to be the usual cause 

 of failure, and although in the case of black game it is not 

 exactly disease that produces the ill success, still it is when 

 the chicks are at a tender age that the crisis is reached 

 and that they are found difficult to treat satisfactorily. Up 

 to the time when the eggs are hatched out, the instruc- 

 tions we have given for red grouse rearing hold good, but 



