BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 329 
It is to be regretted that on so many moors in the 
county the heather receives such little attention. In many 
cases the right of "burning" is relegated to the tenant- 
farmer, and the result, if beneficial to the sheep-stock, is 
disastrous to the heather-crop. The wonderful increase in 
the bracken {Pteris aquilina) of late years, is a matter which 
calls for the consideration of both sheep-farmers and game- 
preservers, and more co-operation in its destruction would 
be to their mutual advantage. 
The dark-red bird is the characteristic type of the county, 
but in plumage this species is subject to much variation 
according to sex, age, and season, varying from buff- 
coloured birds to plum-coloured individuals. 
A pecuhar pale grey Grouse was killed in 1887 at Dal- 
swinton, so Robert Maxwell told Mr. R. Service ; and at 
Dardarroch there is a pied Grouse which is believed to have 
been shot on one of the Glencairn Moors. A Grouse with 
white outer primaries was found dead on Strathmilligan 
(Tynron) in 1905 ; but such variations are repeatedly 
reported. Hybrids between this and the preceding species 
have occurred and have been already referred to {see 
p. 325). It was reported in the Field that a Red Grouse, 
shot in Dumfriesshire on August 20th, 1879, had the claws 
of all the toes considerably elongated, " but those of one 
foot were much more so than those of the other, the claw 
on the central toe measuring more than an inch and a half 
in length."* 
The tests to differentiate between old and young birds, 
such as the abihty or disability of the lower mandible when 
held by it to support the weight of the bird's body without 
breaking, or the absence or presence of blood in the quill of 
the third primary, or the blunt or pointed character of 
the first primary, are by no means infallible. Mr. W. R. 
Ogilvie-Grant writes me that he does ''not beheve that a 
young bird in the end of September or October can be 
distinguished from an old by plumage." 
* Field, 1879, Vol. LIV., p. 287. 
