GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



ment had already been deposited by the rightful 

 owner. This was done during the temporary 

 absence of the female bird. The young pheasants 

 grew up with their foster brothers, partaking of 

 the same insect food, and showing a similar predi- 

 lection for most kinds of berries and certain 

 bulbous and tuberous roots during the latter part 

 of the summer ; and although disregarding the 

 tender shoots of the heather and bog myrtle, 

 which the black grouse devoured with avidity, 

 yet evincing of course a strong partiality for the 

 corn fields during the autumn, and for all kinds 

 of cereal grain, in which their sable friends 

 were ever ready to participate at the same 

 season. 



It must be admitted that the chief obstacle to 

 the existence or increase of the black grouse in 

 the south of England is the genius of modern 

 agriculture. The rage for enclosing and draining 

 waste lands and commons where the soil, fre- 

 quently sandy and poor, can never repay the first 

 outlay of the wealthy experimentalist or the 

 subsequent labour of the husbandman has ex- 

 pelled it from many districts where it was of 

 frequent occurrence, even within the memory 

 of the present generation. But besides the 

 ancient forest moors, there are still several ex- 

 tensive heaths as for example, in West Sussex 



