229 Black Grouse. 



water where the spret is abundant, but poor success 

 may be expected. For the rest, the several styles of feed- 

 ing recommended for Red Grouse are applicable, and if 

 a good supply of spret- seed can be procured, it ought 

 to be given as part of each meal. Besides this, much 

 depends on choosing a good site whereon to place the 

 coops and broods. I know no better than a low, rough 

 meadow with a small stream of water running through it, 

 and along which there is a fair cluster of low brake, such 

 as bushes of hazel and thorn, brambles and bracken, &c., 

 or failing this, the sides of a sheltered mire, if in wooded 

 ground so much the better. Although the chicks like to 

 get about amongst the growth upon damp, wet places, they 

 cannot stand rain and moisture in their coop ; consequently 

 it is necessary to watch them carefully at first, moving 

 the coops whenever they appear to require it. After the 

 broods are about three weeks or so old, they commence 

 to gather strength and independence, and they should be 

 left to their own devices, as much as possible, to procure 

 food, until they are sufficiently matured to turn away, 

 when they should be capable of providing their own 

 sustenance, and soon be able to wing a lengthy flight. It 

 is advisable to get the birds well out to quiet, undisturbed 

 places before turning them away, otherwise they will stay 

 about the place where they were reared to such an extent 

 that when, next year, being fully grown, they seek to 

 breed and incubate, they will possess many of the habits 

 of semi- domesticated birds, with all the inherent wildness 

 of moor-bred ones, and so, many nids will be lost through 

 the desertion of the hens. As it is particularly necessary 

 that Black Game, hand-reared, should not be turned away 

 till well able to fly, it is advisable, rather than confine 

 them, to cut the wings, first one and then the other, or to 

 secure one wing at alternate intervals by tying it up 



