BIRDS. 195 



which would infuse new blood into the different islands, and by 

 judicious shooting, Grouse are kept up to their present numbers, 

 though from other causes, such as increase of cultivated areas 

 (which of course takes away from that available for these birds), 

 they may not be quite as numerous as in former years. 



Mr. Ranken's father in September 1845 killed 25 brace in 

 seven hours, but his son tells us that they are not nearly so 

 numerous now, indeed almost scarce in places where he 

 remembers them to have been plentiful. 



In Hoy, Mr. Moodie-Heddle informs us that the stock of 

 birds keep about the same when fairly shot ; if under or over- 

 shot, they diminish in a few seasons if under-shot, the birds of 

 a covey begin to separate into pairs at the end of October or 

 beginning of November ; if over-shot, the reason is obvious. 



Mr. Watt of Skaill says that " in Sandwick and Stromness 

 parishes Grouse are scarce, as the hills are not suitable, the 

 heather being too short. Six or eight coveys, bred on Teuston 

 and the West Hills, would, I think, seem the lot for both 

 parishes." 



Concerning the weights of Grouse Mr. Moodie-Heddle writes 

 us : "I have not been in the habit of weighing (game), but I 

 remember about 1866 my father and I weighing two birds out 

 of a bag, and again other two, and in both instances the brace 

 was about 1J oz. over the then highest recorded weight. This 

 was at Melsetter, where birds are somewhat heavier than here 

 (Hoy Lodge). A man who has shot over a great part of 

 Scotland for many seasons, told me that the heaviest birds 

 he ever came across were at Melsetter, and at Borgie in 

 Sutherlandshire . " 



The Rousay birds are said to be the heaviest of any part of 

 Scotland, and when they are at their best, October and the early 

 part of November, If Ibs. is not at all an unusual weight. After 

 that time the Grouse seem to get smaller and lighter, they 

 certainly do not seem so large when brought to the table. 



In Rousay at least, Grouse seem to vary but little in plum- 

 age, the real rich red bird being the scarcest, as in Sutherland, 

 and the cocks and hens are, at times, almost identical in colora- 

 tion. 



