Practical Game-Preserving. 206 



nest, and broken eggs will result. Make sure, too, that 

 hens for setting purposes are not old, see that they possess 

 full wings, clear eyes, and even scales on their legs, and 

 that they have a healthy, well-conditioned look; and, as 

 stated above, examine each carefully for vermin, especially 

 under the wings and under the feathers on the breast. A 

 very wise plan, too, before setting the birds on such rarities 

 as grouse eggs, is to allow them to sit for a couple of 

 days on artificial specimens, and then the best of the hens 

 may be chosen for the important process of incubating the 

 real eggs. 



The forty-two eggs yielded forty chicks, three of which 

 were very weakly, but these lived; the other two eggs 

 proved to be bad. The day after hatching they were 

 removed, along with their foster-parents, to a cleared 

 space on the moor, and each coop was fitted with a run 

 5ft. long, and a little narrower than the entire breadth of 

 the coop, the top of the run being covered with small -mesh 

 wire-netting, and the heather within the run (within the 

 inner circle, see Fig. 28) allowed to grow naturally and 

 without being interfered with in any manner. During the 

 period of sitting the hens were carefully lifted off the nests 

 at regular intervals, namely, at eight in the morning and 

 four in the afternoon, for food and water, and for the 

 purpose of allowing them to indulge in a dust-bath. 

 During the first week of incubation they were allowed ten 

 minutes off the eggs each time, and from the eighth day to 

 the day of hatching an additional five minutes were allowed 

 them. The food supplied to the hens consisted of barley 

 given in the morning, and wheat and rice in the afternoon, 

 including fresh water. The young grouse are very tender 

 little creatures, and the utmost care must be taken in 

 removing them to the heather, which ought not to be under- 

 taken until they are at least a full day old. By that 



