6262 



Birds, 



once saw grouse, ringdoves and pheasants at feed in such close proxi- 

 mity to one another that they were quite intermingled. It is a familiar 

 fact, which the gamekeeper often avails himself of when desired to 

 furnish a supply of grouse late in the season, that just about daybreak 

 they are found in some numbers, and less wild than an hour or two 

 later in the day, close on the edge of the moor bordering on the 

 enclosures. These officials will tell you that the moor birds are then 

 on their return from the enclosures where they have been feeding.* 

 If a grouse be found on the cultivated land in the day-time, it is 

 usually a sick or wounded bird, or a greatly terrified one. I have 

 known a grouse dash into a thick hedge fully a mile distant from the 

 moor, and lie there to be picked up without making an attempt to 

 escape. No signs of injury were discernible upon it, and on being 

 liberated some hours afterwards — the next day, in point of fact — it 

 flew away at once, and with nothing unusual in any way perceptible 

 in its conduct. Probably it had been pursued by a hawk, and in the 

 excess of its terror had sought the first possible means of concealment 

 and safety that offered itself. No hawk was visible, but that might 

 possibly be accounted for by the circumstance that the observer's 

 attention was engrossed by the dash of the grouse and its capture 

 quite long enough to permit the hawk to withdraw himself from 

 inspection. 



On the subject of the grouse disease," or the " tapeworm " as it is 

 diversely called, I have no remarks to offer. I have scarcely ever 

 seen a bird suffering from this destructive malady on these moors, 

 and I think I only shot one or two last year which showed signs of 

 any disorder. A draggled tail, rusty plumage, and poor condition, 

 tell the tale of disease very intelligibly, and a sick bird is not easily 

 overlooked. Indeed, almost before he gets on the wing infirmity 

 shows itself in the heavy, laborious efforts and flight of the invalid. I 

 was told by peat-cutters and others that after the very heavy rains 

 which fell about the middle of August, last year, a great many moor 

 birds might be seen drowned in various parts of the moor, and they 

 inferred that these birds had been weakened by the tapeworm. The 

 inference might be good, but it was not altogether satisfactory. The 

 rain was something extraordinary in its violence and duration, and 

 the birds, if weakened at all, might have been weakened by other 

 things save the disease, want of water for instance, under which, in 



* For my own part, I doubt if they feed much before daylight, but not that they 

 visit the enclosures at the time mentioned. 



