CHAPTER II 



THE MANNERS OF THK GROUSK 



THE anxious time for those of us who happen to 

 possess moors, or even to have leased those of others, 

 arrives in the spring of the year, when the grouse, that 

 have long since paired off with their respective mates, 

 begin to occupy their stations for the summer and to 

 go to nest. Without wishing to dogmatise too nicely, 

 it is fair to say that almost every bird upon the moor 

 occupies its peculiar station for many successive 

 years, unless, of course, interfered with by human 

 agency. It has been said, for example, that if an 

 ornithologist wishes to explore any district in Lap- 

 land in search of the eggs of the rarer species, lie 

 should spend the time of a preliminary expedition in 

 marking down the precise situations which each pair 

 of any one species choose to occupy. We can all of 

 us see the force of this remark even at home. Season 

 after season witnesses to the faithfulness with which 

 the curlew and its mate return to a lons^ and desolate 



