THE MANNERS OF THE GROUSE 



ness to maternal duties is touching in its way. But 

 the grouse is naturally a shy, timid creature, and will 

 not willingly brook much interference. A grouse 

 moor can hardly be kept too quiet in the breeding 

 season. That is the reason why proprietors object so 

 strongly to the intrusion of parties of tourists being 

 forced upon them by any Radical legislation. Strangers 

 do not, of course, intend the least in the world to do 

 us any harm, but in point of fact they are pretty cer- 

 tain to scare some birds badly, and thus to diminish 

 the supply of chicks hatched out. Some people may 

 suggest that grouse breed so very early that the young 

 are hatched long before the tourist season. The 

 grouse is an early breeding bird in the north of 

 England, and often begins to lay eggs during the 

 month of March if the season happens to be warm 

 and genial. In the north of Scotland incubation is 

 much later. In the island of Skye, April 24 is a de- 

 cidedly early date for a full clutch of grouse eggs. 



May and June are the two months in which the 

 majority of grouse hens go to nest. Although most 

 of us have accustomed ourselves to speak of grouse 

 nests, the expression is hardly exact, for the eggs are 

 deposited in a mere scratching, scantily lined with a 

 few dry stems of grass or twigs of heather. Some of 

 the text-books, it is true, speak of feathers being used 



