88 BRITISH BIRDS. 



I now make the suggestion that everyone, no matter how 

 confident he may be of his ability to identify " heather," 

 should submit specimens to some competent botanist. Crow- 

 berry bears its inconspicuous flowers in April or May ; 

 but heather, as everyone knows, blooms in late summer, 

 and its flowers are very striking. All heather that is not in 

 bloom in July or August should be looked upon as crowberry 

 until the contrary is proved. 



Sometimes, as on certain tracts of the district I now write 

 about, heather and crowberry grow side by side. But heather 

 is always more or less local here, and I cannot see that ground 

 where it does grow holds more Grouse than those parts where it 

 is quite non-existent. It is hardly strange that the two plants 

 have been for so long confounded by sportsmen and zoologists, 

 for the resemblance between them is very great. Botanically, 

 they are in no way related. Although it is said that the 

 easily recognisable leaves of the crowberry have been detected 

 in the stomachs of Grouse, I have never seen any marks of 

 the birds on the actual plants. The berries, of course, are 

 eaten with avidity ; but as the species is dioecious, and the 

 staminate plants are apparently the most numerous, a given 

 area of crowberry may riot produce much fruit. 



One need not here go any deeper into the subject. It must 

 suffice if I point out that on great tracts of the Pennine 

 moors Grouse are abundant and heather does not and cannot 

 grow ; and I think that the same conditions prevail on moors 

 in other parts of Great Britain. Of course I am well aware 

 that Grouse are common on land where true heather is the 

 dominant plant, and where the crowberry does not occur. 

 But it is a mistake to hold the ancient belief that the Red 

 Grouse cannot exist (and probably free from disease) on 

 ground where heather is not found. I can hardly be 

 as explicit as I should wish in the way of naming localities ; 

 but Blackstone Edge, on the south-west border of Yorkshire, 

 is easily examined by the observer who is not desirous of 

 leaving the path. Here he will find the Grouse (in places) 

 common, but he will search in vain for heather. 



Fredk. J. Stubbs. 



WOODCOCK BREEDING IN SURREY. 



A case of the Woodcock having bred this year in Surrey 

 may be worthy of record. Early in May a small party of 

 gentlemen visited the estate of Lord Abinger, near 

 Leatherhead, to view the prospects of the autumn shooting. 



