96 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



nigrum), of which they are particularly fond. In 

 the autumn they visit the oatfields, and in winter, 

 when driven off the moors by heavy snowstorms, 

 they have been found feeding on the farmsteads on 

 hips and haws. In January 1886, on some of the 

 Yorkshire moors, the snow was more than a foot in 

 depth above the heather, and large drifts formed on 

 a very extensive scale. The Grouse suffered 

 severely, being quite unable to penetrate the frozen 

 mass for food, and in consequence they left the 

 moors for the lower cultivated ground to an extent 

 never previously observed. A field of turnips was 

 swarming with the starving birds which vainly at- 

 tempted with numerous Partridges to scratch down 

 for food. The Grouse were perched on the fences, 

 feeding on the berries 'like so many Fieldfares, and 

 on several occasions they alighted on the branches 

 of trees. As far as one could see, they had aban- 

 doned the moors, and were feeding miles away in 

 the cultivated districts on anything they could get 

 in the way of food. 



The flying powers of Grouse, although at times 

 extremely rapid, are, according to Mr Millais, far 

 inferior in point of endurance to either Blackgame 

 or Capercaillie. They seldom cover distances ex- 

 ceeding two miles at one stretch unless unusually 

 harassed in stormy weather, or scared from their 

 ground by hawks or the artificial kite. The usual 

 length of a Grouse's flight ranges from a quarter to 

 three-quarters of a mile, depending on the nature of 

 the ground over which they are passing, being, as a 

 rule, much shorter on heather flats, where they have 



