HEATHER-BURNING. 297 



in Lanark, Renfrew, and the border counties 

 they are occasionally as light-coloured as par- 

 tridges. Welsh birds are said to be large in 

 size and light in colour ; those from the north 

 of England more rufous ; whilst Irish birds are 

 lighter, with browner legs, and a yellowish- 

 red tinge in the plumage. These peculiarities 

 are undoubtedly due to food-supply ; there- 

 fore nothing ought to be left undone to secure 

 the best and soundest quality of heather and 

 ling. 



Undrained moors and a preponderance of old 

 heather are fatal. Wet cold land ought to be 

 made warm and dry, and the heather periodi- 

 cally burned. Grouse will not lie in tall rank 

 heath, neither do they care to nest in it; and 

 young Grouse that eat decayed fibres die of 

 indigestion. They love to nest in grass and 

 ling a few inches in height, and it is this kind 

 of ground-cover that produces the strongest 

 and healthiest coveys — a state of things which 

 follows immediately upon heather-burning. As 

 much discretion ought to be used in burning 

 in proper rotation as in sowing successive crops. 

 Where there is nothing but rank herbage, the 

 birds must not be deprived of all their cover 



