152 THE KEEPERS BOOK 



Landlords should, in granting leases, stipulate that the 

 tenant shall only burn the hill or moor jointly with the 

 proprietor's keeper, both he and the tenant supplying 

 an equal number of men. Keepers should never be 

 off the moor in time of heather-burning. 



When a moor has been badly neglected and is 

 covered with acres of thick, old, and rank heather, 

 burning should be carried out in a more radical fashion 

 than is necessary on ground that has been carefully 

 attended to in the past. In the former case, heather 

 may be burned in long narrow strips of a width of some 

 25 to 30 yards. These strips should, if possible, be 

 spread fairly equally over the moor. In exceptional 

 and very bad cases it may be necessary to burn a very 

 large tract of old rank heather. But, excluding these 

 badly neglected cases, the best principle is to burn the 

 heather in small patches, uniformly, all over the moor. 

 The reason for this is fairly obvious. The necessary 

 cover must never be at too great a distance from the 

 feeding-ground of the young birds, which is generally 

 young heather of some few years' growth. Justice is 

 necessary for the younger birds, who are liable to be 

 evicted from their feeding-ground amongst the young 

 shoots by the older birds, when the heather has been 

 burned in long strips. When small patches of heather 

 are burnt, it is more difficult for the old birds to see 

 their younger brethren, or cousins or nephews or nieces, 

 as the case may be, when they are feeding and sunning 

 themselves. In proceeding to burn the heather, the 



