GROUND, STOCK, AND POACHING 231 



grouse disease is the most powerful enemy to be 

 fought against. I cannot agree that it is due to 

 overcrowding and here again I turn to the Mackin- 

 tosh and Mr. Rimington Wilson for corroboration. 

 Mr. Wilson writes me : 'Since about 1870 there has 

 been no disease on these moors sufficiently severe to 

 prevent shooting ; previous to this date disease seems 

 to have recurred severely and regularly about every 

 seven years. There is no doubt that driving has pro- 

 duced this healthier state of affairs.' The Mackintosh 

 writes : ' On the Moy Hall moor there has been 

 practically no disease since 1873. Driving was first 

 resorted to in 1869, and only then when birds were 

 too wild to sit to dogs ; ' but he adds that it was not 

 seriously taken up until 1872. 



In considering these two statements we must bear 

 in mind that the former is an undoubted authority on 

 Yorkshire driving of over twenty years' standing, on 

 whose moors all the English records have been 

 eclipsed ; and that the latter is the most successful 

 exponent of the adoption of the system in Scotland, 

 and holds the record for the latter country. I might 

 add that to my certain knowledge, where good 

 management prevails, many other moors have yielded 

 a fair proportion of birds even in the years when 

 disease has been reported severe and prevalent over 



