474 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



Some birds of this species are white on the under parts, others brown. 

 Can anN'one explain the meaning; of this difference? It seems not to be 

 a matter of sex or age. I used to think the brown birds were from smok\' 

 localities, but I have a very brown one from Ayrshire. Is it a matter of 

 season ? Are the white birds newlv moulted. — S. L. Moslev. 



GROUSE MOORS AND DEER FORESTS. 



Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown asks for information about Grouse in Shetland. 

 He would also like to know how to maintain 'deer-grass' in the Scotch 

 forests. '■' 



My information regarding- Shetland was up to 2nd September last. 

 So far as I know no English specialist advised that ' 300 brace ' should 

 be put down, or advised the use of English grouse at all — he knew Scotland 

 (after a residence of years) too well to make such a mistake. It happened, 

 I was informed at the time they were required, English grouse could be 

 obtained and Scotch were not on the market. Many of the Scotch moors 

 also were suffering badly from the 'grouse disease,' and further south this 

 was not the case that year. The supply imported was in proportion to the 

 area to be stocked. It was calculated that so many would die on transit, 

 for, as well as the land journey from Yorkshire to Aberdeen, there was 

 a sea voyag-e of 185 miles. It was also estimated that a certain proportion 

 would succumb to a much damper, if warmer, insular climate. The circum- 

 stances of the case turned out exactly as foreseen in every way. The birds 

 set free in batches (not put down en masse) on the Lunna estate have 

 multiplied as expected, and have spread over the suitable heather of the 

 archipelag-o. There was no reason why they should not. The birds intro- 

 duced and their descendants 'are met with here and there all over the 

 islands on suitable ling-covered spots. It is impossible to estimate their 

 numbers, but the experiment has succeeded, and g-rouse shooting will begin 

 in Shetland next season (1904).' 



Turning to deer forests ! I suppose, if deer pay better than grouse, 

 sheep, or Highland cattle, the moor-soil owners are justified in making the 

 best of their own properties. I-ing, or Heather — as it is called provincially 

 — {Cdllitiia erica), does not multiply from root shoots above ground, or by 

 underground runners. It grows from seed and seed alone. A burnt 

 stump may put out a fresh growth, but all new plants come from seed. 

 Everywhere on the moors the older generation of plants is dving off and 

 a newer springs up from seed to court destruction, if a moorland is over- 

 stocked with sheep. The fresh growth from old roots not killed by fire, if 

 continually eaten off by sheep finally ends in the destruction of the plants. 

 Want of knowledge about plant growth in relation to soils alone accounts 

 for the peculiar state of certain Scotch deer forests, described so accurately 

 by Mr. Harvie-Brown. The thousands of acres of ' blackland ' in a high 

 state of cultivation which surround me suggest 'an own-countryman' 

 solution of this deer forest difficult}-. The moorland plants cannot resist 

 it ; and where ' Tom, Dick, and Harry ' are willing to pay £t,^ per stag to 

 a Scotch forest-owner, there should be no difficulty about cost. Firing is 

 even a matter of indifference, but ling and bracken die away before it, and 

 good 'sheep grasses' take their ])lace.' I dare not name this remedy as 

 a southerner, but Andrew Steele's ' History ot Peat-^Ioss,' Edinburgh, 1826, 

 contains it, and the late James F. W. Johnston 'writ a whole book about 

 it.' If ocular demonstration regarding it is wanted a visit to Lunna, Isle of 

 Shetland, will prove invaluable to all deer forest owners. They understand 

 certain things perfectlv in Shetland, and nothing better than the improve- 

 ment of moss-turf. I, who have made it a special study, have never seen 

 better results than I saw there. — E. Aitkian Woodriffe Peacock, Cadney, 

 Brig-g. 



■ I'lie Naturalist,' September, p. 537. 



Naturalist, 



