THE MANNERS OF THE GROUSE 25 



parent ; indeed, both the male and female birds take 

 every care of their young broods. 



The grouse depends chiefly upon heather for its 

 subsistence, feeding on the common ling (Calluna 

 vulgaris] and also on the fine-leaved heath (Erica 

 cinerea), breaking off the fresh tips of the twigs, which 

 are reduced to pulp by the action of the gizzard, 

 assisted by fine fragments of quartz and pebbles intro- 

 duced for the purpose of aiding the action of the latter 

 in comminuting the food. Grouse are partial to 

 the berries of both the bilberry and cranberry. 

 Clover leaves have also an attraction for them. 

 Occasionally they eat the polypody, of which the 

 pheasant is also fond. In severe weather grouse 

 find that even hips help to support existence. Joseph 

 Walton of Garrigill tells me that very small grouse 

 feed eagerly on caterpillars, a fact which he has verified 

 by dissection. 



In the fall of the year grouse often shift their 

 quarters from the tops of the hills, in order to feast 

 upon the stooks of oats upon the shepherd's croft or 

 the minister's glebe. Some birds take very kindly to 

 the stubble. In some parts of Perthshire it is quite a 

 common event to find a covey of grouse haunting a 

 favourite field for many successive weeks, and the 

 birds grow heavy upon the diet they thus obtain, 



