MORE ABOUT GAME-BIRDS. 127 



of real harm in this : no wild creature is ever guilty 

 of the destruction of his own food -supply. The 

 wood - grouse only trims the tender fir - tops for 

 part of his food, in the same way that his smaller 

 relatives the black and the red grouse do ; and 

 even cultivated trees are all the better for an occa- 

 sional trimming. 



It is a well known fact that young firs will 

 spring up self-sown in all directions. No injury 

 is ever done to full-grown fir-trees by any game- 

 bird. Probably if domestic fowls even were allowed 

 to run among the firs, they might do the young 

 trees a little temporary damage; but even if they 

 did, the saplings would soon recover themselves. 

 It is the squirrels that really do the mischief 

 ascribed to the capercailzie, but they accomplish 

 it with silence and cunning. 



I have seen more than enough of the squirrel's 

 mischievous work in the southern counties of Eng- 

 land. Bushels of young succulent shoots, from five 

 to eight inches in length, may be found littered 

 round the stems of those trees where the squirrels 

 have been engaged in the occupation of polishing 

 the enamel of their little ivory chisels. So evident 



