38 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE GROUSE 



from the nearest grouse moor. Severe weather often 

 affects the interests of the grouse bred on high ground. 

 Thus, Mr. James Carter writes that in January 1886 

 the neighbourhood of Masham, Yorkshire, was covered 

 to a considerable depth with snow, which, owing to 

 sudden changes from thaw to frost, with frequent 

 fresh falls of snow, became a very solid mass. The 

 depth above the heather on the moors was consider- 

 ably more than a foot, and large drifts formed on a 

 very extensive scale. 'The grouse suffered severely, 

 being quite unable to penetrate the frozen mass for 

 food, and in consequence they left the moors for the 

 lower cultivated land to an extent never previously 

 observed. The nearest point of moor to Masham is 

 three miles distant, but the open moors are considerably 

 farther away. Walking near this ground, great packs 

 of grouse would sweep overhead and pass right down 

 the valley over the town. A field of turnips was 

 swarming with the starving birds, which vainly at- 

 tempted, with numerous partridges, to scratch down 

 for food. The grouse were perched on the fences, 

 feeding on the berries like so many fieldfares, and on 

 several occasions they alighted amongst the branches 

 of trees. They were feeding in the hedgerows about 

 Durton House and close to the outskirts of the town, 

 and even on the heaps of manure close to buildings 



