254 SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



preserved ground ; and, be it observed, it is only from 

 such as these that the attack ever comes. Such 

 experience and study as I have been able to bring to 

 bear on the subject convinces me that the more 

 grouse there are on the moors, the more partridges in 

 the fields, and the more pheasants in the coverts, the 

 better for everybody in this struggling age. We ought 

 to rejoice in the discovery that by good manage- 

 ment the food-producing power of the moors, no less 

 than their opportunities for healthy pleasure and 

 exercise, can be increased to such a pitch. If the 

 grouse are there, it is clear they must be killed to be 

 utilised as food, and surely no one would advocate their 

 being destroyed by means of nets or other engines in 

 the wholesale manner of the poacher or poulterer. It 

 is evident the results cannot be obtained by the old- 

 fashioned methods, since where these have been 

 abandoned the stock has so much increased that it 

 would no longer be possible to deal with the birds 

 except by organised driving. 



I have never been one of those who have cavilled 

 at Lord Walsingham's unique performance. Records 

 must and will continue to be broken by Englishmen 

 until the limit is reached, and it seems to me far 

 better that everyone should know the extraordi- 

 nary value and fecundity of well-preserved moors. 



