RED GROUSE 219 



but they have none for dog work; for grouse will not resort 

 to them unless forced to, and dogs cannot work to advantage 

 in them. 



Some people prefer burning in small patches to burning in 

 strips, and theoretically the former can be defended as enabling 

 more birds to feed when out of sight of their brethren and 

 enemies. Nevertheless, the grouse stocks in both England 

 and Scotland reached their apex when most of, if not all, 

 the burning was done in strips. 



A too heavy stock of breeding ewes, in contrast to as heavy 

 a stock of feeding or fat sheep, is said to destroy heather, 

 and cause grass to supplant it. Although the author has 

 several times had cause to believe this to be quite true, he has 

 never actually seen these results. 



Another cause of heather destruction has come under his 

 personal observation, and is very serious indeed when it occurs. 

 It comes in the form of a small beetle which some ten years 

 ago (then, it is believed, unnamed by science) attacked thousands 

 of acres of the heather (calluna), but would not touch the bell 

 heather (erica). It destroyed and bit through the roots of the 

 plants, half starved the sheep in consequence, and caused the 

 grouse to entirely leave some of the moors in the neighbourhood 

 of Castle Douglas. The only stay to it was fire, and square 

 miles of heather were consequently burnt. On going over the 

 ground ten years afterwards, it was observed by the author that 

 only a very occasional root of heather had re-started, so that 

 most of the roots must have been killed, and there was evi- 

 dently no seed in the ground. But all the bell heather plants 

 re-started to grow after the cremation of heather and beetles 

 together. Judging by the destruction wrought, here is a pest 

 that, under favourable circumstances to itself, might destroy 

 all the heather in the country, and incidentally grouse shooting 

 as well. The name of this beetle is LocJnncza suturalis. 



Draining is receiving a great deal of attention, and well is 

 the subject worth it. The worst kind of land on any moor is 

 what is called " floe " ground. For the grouse it is useless, and 

 nothing and nobody seems able to make any use of it. It is 



