The Red Grouse 
5i 
young heather is the secret of good Grouse management. All dead animals, too, which 
may contaminate a water-supply, should be removed from a moor. A few remarks on 
keeping the moor in good condition are given in the Field, from which I quote the 
following, as it is much to the point : — 
"Overstocking', with the resultant scarcity of food, stagnant water, and the attendant indigestible 
character of the heather when the young shoots are nipped by late spring frosts, are all detrimental 
to a healthy stock. No doubt a great deal might be done to prevent disease, or, at all events, to 
minimise its effects, by keeping down the stock of birds within reasonable bounds ; by killing off 
some of the old cocks, which are most detrimental to the well-being of a moor ; by endeavouring 
to kill and burn any ' bad ' birds, as those which are pricked or are suffering from tape-worm or 
any other illness are termed, and which must be predisposed to disease ; by improving the heather 
with judicious burning ; by reducing the stock of sheep on the moor ; and by a good system of 
drainage. On too many moors the vermin are not sufficiently kept down, and the many enemies 
the grouse has to contend against must exact a heavy toll of their numbers. In the spring, rooks, 
jackdaws, and hoodie-crows destroy many eggs, especially on the low-lying moors, whilst foxes, 
weasels, and stoats commit many a cold-blooded murder of the sitting hens. Although hawks, 
harriers, and falcons are included in the keeper's 'black list,' the writer is of opinion that these 
birds of prey are not altogether undesirable occupants of a moor ; they kill off many sick birds, and 
their mission in the system of nature is a decidedly useful one. No good sportsman ought to regret 
that the use of that abominable instrument of torture the pole-trap, which has been the means of 
destroying many harmless birds, such as cuckoos and nightjars, is now forbidden by statute. 
"A good many nests of grouse, and also young poults, are killed by the sheep-dogs used for 
rounding up the sheep that are 'stinted' or 'gaited' on the moors, and there is little doubt that 
sheep are a check to any great increase in the stock of birds, as both feed on the same food ; the 
sheep, owing to the formation of its jaw, pulling up the young heather. More heather is now burnt, 
in most cases judiciously, than was formerly the custom, though even now many keepers are too 
conservative in this respect, and do not burn sufficiently. The burning should be done in patches, 
so that there may always be a sufficient supply of fresh shoots of heather to serve as food for the 
young birds, and within easy distance of covert, to which they can resort if danger threatens, or in 
case of stormy and severe weather. There is still an Act in force for regulating the seasons when 
heather shall be burnt, but its provisions are not strictly enforced in Yorkshire. In former times 
the illegal burning of heather was looked on as a serious offence, being punishable with a month's 
imprisonment and hard labour, though it is possible that other interests than those of the grouse- 
shooter were considered." 1 
The so-called Grouse disease was known as long ago as 1847, when Charles St. John 
recorded his impressions. It was then rife in Inverness-shire, and many subsequent 
writers on sport and natural history have referred to it, but from an unscientific point of 
view. Captain Chapman tells us that on Bowes Moor, in 1873, "the birds were literally 
carted off in thousands, and not a gun fired there that year;" whilst all who have 
had experience of Scottish shooting have had reason to lament its frequent recurrence. 
In 1890 I was invited one day by Mr. Barclay Field to help to kill off the diseased stock 
on Drumour. We shot over 200 brace of Grouse, all of which were suffering from 
nematode worms; the feathers of the legs had gone, and the whole plumage of the 
birds presented a rusty, dull appearance. At the end of the day a pile of heather was 
raised and the whole 400 birds burnt, a melancholy spectacle. 
The first study of the Grouse disease was made in 1868 by Dr. Young of Glasgow, 
who dissected certain diseased Grouse and found that the small intestine was plugged 
1 Field, Aug. 17, 1907. 
