time (3 to 4 weeks old) they began to pick grass seeds 

 and wild ripe strawberries. I continued the egg and 

 meal supplementary food, and allowed the foster mother 

 and brood to roam around the house during the day. At 

 night they were lured with feed to their coop and closed 

 in. At 5 weeks old they began to tree roost at night. 

 There was now 4 birds left of the seven. They were so 

 tame that I could handle them at any time. When about 

 full grown one flew into the kennel close by and was 

 caught by the setters and killed. Early in September 

 the three birds that still remained suddenly disappeared 

 without any apparent cause. This I expected as I have 

 noticed years ago that during that month the broods in 

 the wild break up and disseminate over a wide area in 

 ones and sometimes twos. About this time the young 

 males began to strut and demonstrate their belligerent 

 habits which would no doubt be resented by the old cock 

 of the harem whose superior fighting experience would 

 enable him to drive the youngsters off to look for new 

 and unoccupied quarters. The lack of food around the 

 native habitat too would be a ruling element as a cause 

 of the September distribution. A few days after the dis- 

 appearance of the three truants I found one, a female 

 dead close by wire fence which she had evidently struck 

 with force during a flight across an open stretch. The 

 lower mandible was broken and the breast and throat 

 lacerated and the wire close to where she lay held the 

 feathers and blood. 



Twelve days after the disappearance of the grouse the 

 male bird returned to the bungalow alone and still as 

 tame as ever. I caught him and put him in a pen. 



This experiment at Toby proved that the free range 

 method of rearing grouse could be successfully carried 

 out under certain circumstances. 



The necessary conditions are as follows. A fenced in 

 area within the bounds of which is found the variety of 

 brush timber such as grey birch, and fern etc., similar to 

 that which is found in the natural haunts of the wild 

 stock, where the insect life previously referred to is 

 abundant the hand feeding would be much reduced, at 

 the same time the broods would thrive all the better on 

 their insect ration. 



The objection to this method is the necessity for an at- 

 tendant to be always on the spot to herd the broods into 

 their coops when a storm is approaching. Generally the 

 foster mother will do this if she is the right sort. Occa- 

 sionally however, one may lag till the last moment and 



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