MANAGEMENT OF GROUSE MOORS 
with ease any soil however hard, provided it is not really stony. If the 
coop cannot be placed upon heather, this will have to be supplied fresh 
every day. 
The hen should have a ball of barley meal, as large as one of her own 
eggs, not later than 10 a.m. ; and the last thing at night, when the coop 
and run should be moved on to fresh ground, some oats or other corn 
should be given to her. 
For the first week the chicks require feeding several times a day on 
coarse ground oatmeal, a little hard-boiled egg, leaves of young heather 
picked for them off the shoots, and some insect food, ants’ eggs, if pro- 
curable, and some grouse -rearing meal. During the second and third weeks 
feed on well -boiled rice, canary seed, millet, dari, hemp and rape, mixed 
with a little hard-boiled egg, and very small quantity of meat, together 
with some green food, chopped watercress or lettuce, and young heather. 
This should be mixed with the grouse-meal just mentioned till crumbly, 
and not more should be given than the little birds can consume at a time. 
For the first fortnight they should be fed every two hours ; the third week 
every three hours ; the fourth week every four hours ; until at last twice 
a day is quite sufficient. As the chicks get older a little biscuit meal 
added to the food makes a slight change. Water should be given them 
from the second day in shallow vessels in which they cannot drown them- 
selves, if a patent water -fountain is not used. A plentiful supply of grit 
for the hen and young ones should also not be forgotten. The run may be 
removed as soon as the young birds can fly a little. 
Water supply . — On many moors, especially on the eastern ones of Yorkshire 
adjoining Whitby and Scarborough, water is very scarce. Grouse are thirsty 
birds, possibly on account of their very thick plumage which, though it acts 
as an admirable great -coat in wild stormy weather, must often be uncom- 
fortably close when the sun gives out great heat, so that unless water is 
artificially provided great tracts of heather are ill adapted to rearing 
young broods. The usual means of doing this is either to conduct the 
water by little runnels in various directions where springs are available, 
or by depositing water fountains in sufficient numbers in the localities 
where they are needed. When selecting one of these vessels it is important 
to note whether the reservoir is so closed to external infiuences that no 
microbes, or other deleterious matter, can gain an entrance, so that the 
water may remain sweet and wholesome for a considerable period. Some 
are self-filling, mist and dew, in addition to rain, sufficing usually to 
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