On Moorlands and Roughs. 45 



which traffic of some kind was continually passing. 

 The number of eggs varies a good deal according to 

 the season, age of the hen bird, and situation of the 

 moor. Few of our British eggs are handsomer, 

 being cream-white in ground colour, thickly marked 

 with brown of varying shades from red and crimson 

 to nearly black. The colour, however, is by no 

 means a " fast " one, and may be easily washed off, 

 so that they require to be taken as soon as laid, and 

 handled and kept for some weeks at least with care, 

 if their beauty is to be preserved in the cabinet. 

 Although the Red Grouse is not polygamous, the 

 cock bird does not assist in the duties of incubation, 

 still he assists the hen in bringing up the brood. 

 During autumn and winter the life of the Red 

 Grouse is by no means a happy one, that is to say 

 in some ways. From the i2th of August to the 

 loth of December he has to run the gauntlet of the 

 gunner; and now that the deadly practice of "driv- 

 ing " is almost universally resorted to, on the York- 

 shire moors at all events, even the wary old birds 

 are shot down practically at will. Then when the 

 shooters are done with him the Grouse has all the 

 hardships of a northern winter to go through. Snow- 

 storms of unusual severity often drive Red Grouse 

 from the moors to the lower and more sheltered 

 valleys, even to the nearest farmyards, where we 

 have known them search for food with the poultry. 



