AUGUST 197 



and of Iceland, which is distinguished as Troglodytes 

 borealis. 



Probably in no former season has there been such a 

 large number of grouse in the British Islands as there are 

 at this moment; because, although its natural haunts 

 have been seriously encroached upon by agriculture and 

 other industries, the result of the modern system of 

 driving, which has superseded the older and more 

 interesting method of shooting over setters or pointers, 

 has been to increase indefinitely the fecundity of the race 

 in good seasons such as the present. The reason for this 

 is pretty clear. In shooting over dogs, it is the young 

 birds that suffer most severely, offering, as they do, much 

 easier shots than their older and warier parents. But in 

 driving, the chances of war are reversed. The old birds, 

 flying foremost, come first to the guns, offer the most 

 conspicuous mark, and are the first to fall. This is of 

 twofold benefit to the stock. Young birds, in their second 

 and third years, are far more prolific breeders than older 

 ones; and old birds, strong and excessively jealous of the 

 presence of others, soon drive younger ones off' the ground, 

 and the stock falls numerically low in consequence. 

 Driving had its origin on the moors of Yorkshire, where, 

 for reasons not easy to explain, the birds, as shown by the 

 oldest extant records, have always been far more difficult 

 of approach than on more northern ground. Take, for 

 instance, the following extract from the diary of that 

 archetype of gunners, Colonel Peter Hawker. Writing in 

 1812 from a public-house near Bowes, 'where I bought 

 some shot/ said public-house being 'kept by one Kitty 

 Lockey, who horses the mail,' the Colonel notes 



' Having heard that grouse were become so wild and scarce 



