CHAPTER XXIIL 



RED GROUSE : Protection. 



PROBABLY no kind of game offers such facilities to vermin 

 and poachers as Red Grouse; yet in addition it suffers 

 considerably from the molestation of farmers and shep- 

 herds of evil intent, who, although practising arts equally 

 reprehensible with those of poachers, yet manage so to 

 veil their malpractices as to keep outside the pale of the 

 law. Whatever may be said as to the wildness of moor- 

 lands, and absence of animal life upon their slopes, those 

 who go in for preserving grouse will soon find that animal 

 life is by no means absent, particularly that of a pre- 

 datory character. Grouse suffers at all times from the 

 attacks of stoats and polecats on the half- and full-grown 

 birds, weasels on the eggs and chicks. The wild cat, 

 which is far from being extinct throughout the less 

 cultivated and barren lands of Scotland, Wales, and 

 possibly the Northern counties of England, also preys 

 considerably upon grouse, and is ably seconded by its once 

 domesticated imitators. In Scotland the fox is for the 

 most part vermin, and does not fail to maintain its 

 character as far as grouse are concerned. In some of the 

 wilder moorland districts the badger is still fairly plenti- 

 ful, while martens also occasionally give evidence of their 

 presence. Exception may be made in favour of the 

 badger and marten, which are already too scarce in these 



