SHOOTING IN NEW FOREST 255 



When first I went there I realised, from what 

 I was able to learn, that their numbers were 

 diminishing rapidly. My first step was to put 

 a stop to shooting them altogether, for it was 

 perfectly certain that there were not sufficient 

 of either sex for that to go on any longer. 



I also subsequently did all I could to intro- 

 duce fresh blood, in the hope of reviving the 

 stock. First of all, the Duke of Buccleuch sent 

 me from Dumfriesshire a supply of several brace 

 of live birds ingeniously caught by old Lindsay 

 the keeper at Sanquhar. These certainly seemed 

 at first to improve the stock ; we had more broods 

 of young birds than for some time past. But 

 after a year or two the improvement vanished. 



A friend in Perthshire then sent me some 

 eggs from his estate there. They did not seem 

 to be a particularly hard bird to rear, but still 

 we had many losses, and, as the supply of eggs 

 was limited, the net result did not carry us far. 



A few years later I got a larger supply, two 

 years running, from Bavaria, of fully grown birds 

 and here I would like to record that not only 

 the Commissioners of Woods, but also successive 

 Financial Secretaries to the Treasury, took much 

 interest in these experiments, and supported them 

 with all reasonable liberality. 



But here again the good effect was only 



