432 BRITISH BIRDS. 



subsist on grain, especially oats. In the autumn Grouse feed largely on the 

 berries and fruits found on the moors. In very severe and long-continued 

 frost and snow I have known isolated instances of Grouse being caught in 

 the streets of Sheffield. The Red Grouse is not generally a conspicuous bird 

 on the moors. You may often drive for miles without seeing more than 

 one or two. During the evening three or four may often be seen sitting 

 on a stone wall, and sometimes much greater numbers ; but for the most 

 part they live upon the ground, though they are occasionally seen perched 

 in the stunted birches and hawthorns on the edge of the moors. When 

 feeding, they are very wary birds ; and if alarmed they will stretch out their 

 necks, their heads appearing like so many snakes above the heather. They 

 are very fond of perching on large boulders, and frequently dust themselves, 

 delighting to bask in the sun. 



Grouse-shooting begins on the 12th of August. In average seasons 

 there are at that date no " cheepers " (birds whose parents have been 

 disturbed in their first nests and have bred again) ; and few of the young 

 birds are so strong on the wing as to prevent the second-rate shots from 

 making a bag. For the first few days Grouse are shot over dogs pointers 

 or setters. A good shot on a good moor will bag his twenty-five to thirty- 

 five brace the first day ; but enormous quantities are sometimes shot *. In 

 a short time the birds become very wild, generally rising beyond range ; 

 they also " pack " on the high grounds, especially before stormy weather. 

 The Grouse-shooters then resort to driving. The gunners are partially 

 concealed in erections made of turf, and the birds in the next valley are 

 driven by the gamekeepers and their assistants over the brow of the inter- 

 vening hill; in the thick of the drive the shooting is fast and furious, 

 and large bags are sometimes made. Grouse-driving is excellent sport 

 for the mere marksman, requiring a very quick hand and a very accurate 

 eye ; the birds fly towards the butts like arrows from a bow, and are out 

 of shot almost before the echoes of the keeper's m-aa-a-rk have died away. 

 The flight of the Grouse is generally near the surface of the ground, and 

 it often glides or skims for a considerable distance with motionless wings. 

 If much persecuted, large flocks of Grouse may sometimes be seen high in 

 the air crossing over deep valleys from one moor to another. 



Grouse are subject to an epidemic disease, which generally appears in 

 spring, when the birds are sitting ; they become thin and out of condition 



* Of late years the noble sport of Grouse-shooting has degenerated, in too many 

 instances, into wholesale slaughter. Instead of shooting a few brace for themselves or 

 their friends, as sportsmen used to do in the good old days, too many owners or renters 

 of moors degrade themselves to the level of bird-butchers. Their only object seems to be 

 to obtain as big a bag as possible, for the unsportsman-like object of turning it into money, 

 or the vulgar pleasure of seeing their names at the head of a long figure in the news- 

 papers. 



