Practical Game-Preserving. 1 9 2 



The daily routine of the Red Grouse's existence has 

 features of its own. It is decidedly an early bird, and 

 takes its first meal betimes in the morning, resorting sub- 

 sequently to those spots where the day is passed in basking 

 and other quiet occupations, after which, in the afternoon, 

 it seems to turn its attention to feeding again, and goes to 

 roost early. In an undisturbed state grouse rarely fly at 

 dusk, much less afterwards, nor are they to be caught 

 napping among their haunts at sunrise. Their food 

 consists for the most part of some of the natural vegetable 

 products of the waste lands which they frequent, and 

 comprises chiefly the following : the tender portions of the 

 ling or heath, commonly termed ' ' heather " ; of the 

 heather proper (Erica cinered), generally called " heath " ; 

 several kinds of sedge and other grasses, and various 

 descriptions of mountain berries, among which may 

 be mentioned, as the commonest, the whortleberry, 

 the cranberry, the crowberry, and the red bearberry ; also 

 the shoots and leaves of these according to the season. To 

 enumerate all the plants upon which grouse feed would be 

 difficult. During winter they often become, like many 

 other birds, very short of food, and when the supply is too 

 scant on the weather-beaten moors, they have recourse to 

 the fields and stubbles of farmers, and to outlying planta- 

 tions. It has of late years become recognised as a neces- 

 sity that grouse be fed with corn, &c., during severe 

 weather, and seeing the numbers of birds which some 

 moors have to support, the practice must have approval, 

 alike from a humane and a practical point of view. 



It will be seen that though a hill be wanting in heath or 

 heather, it may still prove an attractive place for grouse 

 to feed, owing to its producing other suitable food. This 

 bird is one that alters its habits to a very inappreciable 

 extent according to the season, and unlike its more sombre 



