THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
feeding grounds — increases the sources of infection almost by geometrical 
progression, it is very desirable to tempt the birds to break up the packs 
as much as possible, and this is largely helped by burning in strips and 
small patches. It has long been known that where the heather grows 
rather thinly the burning should be done in patches of a quarter acre 
as near as possible, and, where it grows very thickly, in strips of twenty 
to thirty feet wide, and as long as can be conveniently managed, in order 
to obtain the best nesting and feeding results. There is an additional reason 
for this practice, since it has been shown that the risk of infection is 
thereby much diminished. 
Anything which affects the food supply reacts upon the grouse, and 
hence it is that outbreaks of disease usually make their appearance in 
the spring, after the privations of winter. If the stock is healthy, bad weather 
in the breeding season does little harm, but the health of the birds 
depends very much upon the quality of the food supply during the months 
of February, March, and April. The state of the heather at that period 
depends, on ordinary moors, on two things: the character of the previous 
season, and the amount of the stock of sheep. When this last is excessive, 
although the weather may have been ideal, the heather has no chance of 
affording a supply of good food, and a summary glance will tell at once 
what are the prevailing conditions. Where there are too many sheep 
there can be no proper bloom, and, consequently, no seeds. Unfortunately 
in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in Lancashire, and in Westmorland, 
thousands of acres fall under this category. 
Food in winter . — Where the heather has fair play the winter food supply de- 
pends on (1) good growth in the spring; (2) good bloom in the summer; (3) 
good seed in the autumn in the preceding year ; and when these conditions 
have been favourable, a large breeding stock may be left in the confident be- 
lief that the health of the birds will be good in the following spring. They 
will then be able to resist the ravages of the strongyles, and rear large 
broods — ^though if there should be a prolonged spell of hot dry weather when 
the chicks hatch out, there is danger of considerable numbers succumbing 
to Coccidiosis — the conditions then being favourable to its development. 
The chief danger, however, to be apprehended in the springtime is a 
prolonged late fall of snow, either when the grouse are laying, for 
then the nests get covered up, and the hens cannot find them again, or 
just after the chicks are hatched, when they succumb to the cold and have 
difficulty in obtaining insect food. There is not so much damage done by 
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