46 The Natural History of British Game Birds 
Season. 
Brace of 
Grouse. 
Par. 
fridges. 
Phea- 
sants. 
Hares. 
Rab- 
bits. 
Wood- 
cock. 
Snipe. 
Various. 
Total 
Head. 
1898 .... 
393i 
I 
1 
3 
2 
I 
795 
1899 .... 
1,182 
1 
3 
2,369 
I900 .... 
2,008 
4 
s 
1 
3 
s 
4,034 
I90X .... 
3.341 
I 
4 
1 
3 
9 
6,700 
1902 .... 
2,37° 
10 
2 
1 
'5 
2 
4,77° 
1903 .... 
i,°94i 
I 
4 
2 
6 
1 
2,204 
1904 .... 
2,103 
3 
2 
6 
4,219 
1905 .... 
2,762^ 
5 
13 
7 
5.551 
1906 
6 
8 
7 
8 
4,33' 
1907 .... 
4 
3 
6 
4 
16 
3 
3.679 
1908 .... 
2,224 
1 
2 
2 
2 
27 
4 
4,486 
Total for eleven seasons 
2i,45°i 
33 
3 
34 
10 
»4 
101 
32 
43. 1 38 
Dates on which Bags of 500 Brace and over have 
been made. 
Brace of 
Grouse. 
647 
..13 
580 
760J 
„ 18 
78. 
.. 15. "905 
638I 
554* 
554i 
27, , 
S07 
In Ireland Grouse would flourish almost to the extent they do in Scotland, if they 
had stricter preservation. Vermin, both four-footed and winged, and poachers swarm 
in almost every district, so that it is well-nigh impossible to raise a large stock even 
on moors most suitable. Gorse and heather are burnt at any season, generally the 
nesting time, and in some districts it is as much as a keeper's life is worth to try 
preservation. In fact, in the west and south of Ireland at the present day, the life of the 
would-be game-preserver is more unsafe than it would be in any part of Western America. 
Throughout the island Grouse are very generally distributed all over, not being confined 
to the high mountains of Wicklow, Donegal, Munster, Connaught, Galway, &c, where 
they are most numerous, but also in the flat grass and bog lands of Queen's and 
King's Counties, Westmeath, Eastern Galway, and Cork. In Connemara and Wicklow, 
where as many as 100 brace have been killed in one day at Powerscourt, they are 
successfully preserved ; but in Fermanagh, which would be excellent in parts, a friend 
of mine who tried preserving had both his keepers shot, and he himself repeatedly 
threatened, until he abandoned the experiment in disgust. In Kerry and Cork, Grouse 
are fairly numerous and very large. 
Grouse are found in abundance in Scotland, wherever the ground is suitable, the 
protection sufficient, and proper attention is paid to heather-burning. They are distributed 
over so large an area that it is difficult to do more than individualise the districts and 
moors where they flourish most. The greater part of Sutherland is devoted to deer, 
and the same may be said of Ross-shire, although there are many excellent moors, and 
well arranged on the flanks of deer-forests, where bags of 800 to 1000 brace are annually 
