26 



BOOK NOTICE. 



up the young in a wholesale manner. Rooks, in dry weather and 

 when their ordinary supply of food is cut off, are determined nest 

 seekers and egg destroyers ; and we are by no means certain that 

 they are not, in this respect, quite equal in destructiveness to the 

 Grey and Carrion Crow. Jackdaws, Magpies, and Jays will suck 

 eggs whenever they come across them and are able to circumvent the 

 old birds. 



Lord Walsingham commences the second volume with an admir- 

 able chapter on Grouse and Grouse-driving. Perhaps on no subject 

 connected with sporting has there been more speculation than in 

 connection with the so-called grouse disease. There has, also, always 

 been a great division of opinion amongst authorities as to the primary 

 cause of this most fatal and destructive malady. It has been shown 

 that the intestines of birds which die contain very large numbers of a 

 small entozoic parasite, described by Dr. T. Spencer-Cobbold under 

 the name of Strongyhis pergracilis^ which many suppose to be the 

 cause of the malady. These should, however, more probably be 

 considered as indications of a diseased state rather than the primary 

 cause. Grouse-disease may be ranked with those epidemical diseases 

 like cholera, rinderpest, and ' foot-and-mouth ' murrain, which break 

 out from time to time and run a certain course, and then disappear. 

 The weak and unhealthy condition of the birds at the time, induced 

 by unwholesome food or some equally potent cause, as too close 

 breeding, making them fit recipients of the seeds of disease. 



A marked difference in the habits of Grouse on the Yorkshire 

 and Lancashire moors as compared with the Western Isles and the 

 North of Scotland, has been observed in late years. In the former 

 case the birds pack early, and there would now certainly be little 

 chance of making a bag over dogs after the end of August. In the 

 latter, fair bags may be made, with dogs, throughout September, and 

 even in October. Lord Walsingham suggests that it is probable that 

 the gradual alteration in climatic conditions, which have put a stop 

 to the cultivation of cereals on land bordering the high moors of 

 Yorkshire, has also affected the habits of moor game. 



To those who love grand scenery and rough, healthy exercise, 

 Ptarmigan shooting offers much attraction, not so much from the 

 mere sport afforded, as the wild localities where the birds are found. 

 Equally interesting also to the ornithologist are these lingerers from a 

 past age — left stranded, like the Snow Bunting and many a small Arctic 

 plant — on the summits of the highest ranges in Scotland. There, on 

 the barren, stone-strewed plateaux, where the snow lies in patches all 

 through the summer months, in mist and cloud-land, the Tarmachan 

 finds a congenial home, feeding on the fruit of the many berry- 

 Naturalist, 



