54 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE GROUSE 



some rats with strychnine and put them out on the 

 hill as a bait for hooded crows. Unhappily, the male 

 of a pair of golden eagles, then breeding in the locality, 

 chanced to swallow one of the defunct rats, and 

 perished miserably, to our eternal regret. 



Some individual rooks are most persistent in 

 harrying grouse nests, and owners of rookeries ought 

 in my opinion to be held legally bound to shoot their 

 rookeries every season ; for these voracious birds are 

 long-lived, and if too numerous in a district, they do 

 harm in a variety of ways that the general public never 

 dream of. 



Whether jackdaws are generally mischievous on 

 a moor I cannot say, but I know that in a dry 

 season they rob many grouse nests, and I think they 

 should be treated as vermin, and shot if possible at 

 sight whenever they appear on the hill. Richardson's 

 skuas are sometimes shot as destructive to grouse. 

 They would no doubt bolt a tiny grouse if they felt 

 hungry, and a chance offered itself ; but that is not a 

 contingency which happens frequently. The black- 

 backed gulls are very destructive to young birds of 

 every kind, especially the lesser variety. I do not 

 think the great black-backed gull troubles much 

 about grouse. He cares more for fish and for car- 

 rion. But the lesser black-backed gull is a shame- 



