GROUSE THAT LIE AND GROUSE THAT FLY 207 



shire? The reason why they did not is probably that the 

 Yorkshire grouse began by being strong enough and early 

 enough to all rise in a brood by the I2th of August. Conse- 

 quently, the early broods were saved. The Caithness-shire 

 grouse and those of the Lews were later, and never were all 

 ready to rise together in a brood by the I2th of August, and 

 consequently the most backward were saved, since both 

 barrels would be discharged at those first up, and the crouchers 

 escaped while the shot was being rammed home in the muzzle- 

 loaders. 



If this is the true explanation of the difference of habit 

 of the birds, its root cause can be seen at a glance every 

 autumn on the heather that is to say, its root cause, when 

 the shot gun was first used to kill grouse upon the wing, 

 was in the state of the heather. The bloom of this plant 

 indicates the period when it started to shoot, and that is a 

 fortnight earlier in Yorkshire than in Caithness and the Lews. 

 It may be three weeks, or even more, but it is at least 

 a fortnight. 



The starting to bloom has no influence directly on the grouse 

 nesting, but the starting of the plant to shoot has; and therefore 

 if the survival of the fittest theory is accepted, all the wildness of 

 the south-eastern grouse, and the hiding habit, or natural 

 instinct, of the north-western grouse is explained by the state of 

 forwardness of vegetation in the districts two hundred years 

 ago, which in all probability was relatively what it is now. 



Of course, what will make wild grouse lie now has not much 

 to do with the matter. Falcons will make them lie, eagles will 

 generally make them fly, as also will ravens. The birds are not 

 very discriminating either, and make mistakes, for they fre- 

 quently lie well under an artificial kite, and fly away if they see 

 a heron in the sky. Probably they mistake one for a peregrine 

 and the other for an eagle. But there do not appear to be 

 enough peregrines anywhere now to permanently affect the 

 habits of grouse. Probably when there were lots of them all 

 grouse did lie well ; we know that they did so, even in October, 

 in the Duke of Gordon's country in the time of Colonel 



