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gamekeepers shot them to impose upon their masters, and gain credit for the numbers of game 

 these monsters would have destroyed ; but I am now persuaded that they devoutly believe in the 

 destructive propensities of all these birds, and that no argument will convince them to the 

 contrary. 



" The Grouse is an early breeder. In the sheltered lower grounds I have heard of eggs 

 having been seen before the end of March. On the high grounds I have frequently seen eggs 

 unhatched in June. In some seasons a sudden fall of snow has been known to cover the ground 

 to such a depth that the poor Grouse have been unable to find their nests ; and after such storms 

 the gamekeepers pick up eggs here and there, which, as they express it, have been ' laid wide.' 



" The situation of the nest varies. The nest is always placed on the ground, usually in the 

 long heather, often near a clump of very tall ling, or near a protruding rock. The edge of a 

 patch of moor where the heads have been burnt off a year or two ago is a favourite place, or an 

 oasis of heather, which has escaped the general conflagration, is a still more likely locality to 

 find the nest of a Grouse. The motives which guide them in their choice of a site for their nest 

 seem to be merely the selection of a place where the bird and eggs will be concealed and 

 sheltered by the long heather, and one that can easily be recognized by themselves. 



" The Grouse can scarcely be said to make a nest. It merely scratches a slight hollow on 

 the ground ; and such material, twigs of heather, dry moss or grass, leaves, &c, as happen to be 

 on the spot, are allowed to tumble in as lining. The Grouse has never been known to cover its 

 eggs before leaving the nest, as the Pheasant and Partridge are in the habit of doing. 



" The number of eggs laid by the Grouse seems to vary with the propitiousness or otherwise 

 of the season. In very wet and cold springs the smallest clutches will be from four to five, and 

 the largest from eight to nine, whilst in very favourable seasons the small clutches will be from 

 six to seven, and the larger ones from ten to twelve, or even fifteen and seventeen ; but in the 

 latter cases it is probable that the eggs may not all be the produce of one bird. In an average 

 year most nests will contain from seven- to eight eggs. Birds which breed late on the high 

 grounds do not seem to lay fewer eggs than those which breed early in the more sheltered 

 situations. 



" The Grouse does not easily forsake her eggs. You may watch her daily as she sits upon 

 them ; you may even catch her eye without frightening her away. You may send her off cok- 

 cok-cok-cokking in alarm, by accidentally almost stumbling over the nest ; and you may handle the 

 eggs without much danger of causing her to ' forsake.' Gamekeepers are always very anxious to 

 impress upon trespassers the fact that it is of the utmost importance not to disturb the birds 

 during the breeding-season. The real truth is, that, if strangers were allowed on the moors at 

 this season of the year, the danger would be, not that the birds would forsake the eggs, but that 

 the eggs would forsake the birds. 



" The eggs of the Grouse are not subject to much variation. They are usually lf£ inch long 

 by 1\% broad, and are of an almost uniform oval shape, the smaller end being scarcely more 

 pointed than the larger end. Exceptions to this rule, however, are occasionally met with. 

 Towards the end of May 1864 or 1865 (I remember it was Derby-day) I took a nest of Grouse, 

 during a heavy snow-storm, containing five eggs, which would probably have hatched the following 

 day. They measure 1 f § inch by 1^ ; and, as might be expected in eggs which were longer and 



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