IN PRAISE OF THE GROUSE 13 



by Mr. Seebohm to Dresser's ' Birds of Europe ' was 

 based upon his study of the species in Derbyshire. 

 Farther south than this it seems useless to look for 

 grouse, unless we turn aside into little Wales, which is 

 not famous for the quality of bags obtained upon the 

 Twelfth, though the species appears to exist in most 

 suitable places in the Principality. It would be a 

 mistake, however, to suppose that the grouse cannot 

 thrive at a distance from the great lonely moorlands 

 which constitute its natural home. I believe that the 

 species could be naturalised in any part of Britain, 

 provided the conditions of life proved suitable. The 

 experiments that have been made in Norfolk, although 

 carried out on a small scale, are full of encouragement. 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney tells me that Mr. J. Hardcastle 

 turned some grouse out on Holt Heath nearly twenty 

 years ago, but that they have long since vanished. 

 Better results have been obtained at Sandringham. 

 ' Some fourteen years ago,' writes Mr. Jackson, the: 

 head keeper, ' thirty brace were turned down, and 

 the following year another thirty brace. The experi- 

 ment was not made with a view to add to the shooting, 

 but for the pleasure of hearing and seeing the birds on 

 the estate. I found that they nested and reared their 

 young quite satisfactorily, but that they decreased in 

 number between the breeding seasons a fact which 



