DEVON AND SOMERSET. 305 



the bitter spring of 1895, when for nine weeks 

 consecutively frost reigned supreme, this noble 

 covert was sorely smitten, and for awhile 

 turned brown. But the injury was not beyond 

 the recuperative power of the trees, and with 

 the lapse of time they resumed their normal 

 appearance. This same frost was so severe as 

 to destroy great quantities of gorse on the 

 higher moors, and the death of the gorse 

 enabled the whortleberry plant to flourish and 

 increase in its place. This was apparently a 

 great benefit, and the creeping furze which 

 had been for many a year encroaching upon 

 the ground that belonged to heather, was at 

 last disposed of more eftectivelv than it could 

 have been by any artificial process. One 

 unforeseen result, however, was that the young 

 black game have had more opportunity than 

 ever to glut themselves with the tempting 

 fruit in the rainless davs of August, when the 

 springs and runnels of the higher moors have 

 become entirely dry and the luscious berries 

 afford a tempting food and drink combined. 

 Large numbers of the young birds have 

 succumbed under these circumstances, and the 

 marked shrinkage of the general stock of this 

 handsome game bird which has been noticed 

 in all quarters of the moor in the last few 

 years may very possibly be traced to this 

 natural cause. North Hill is carpeted with a 



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