THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
cropped appearance, like furze does on a rabbit -haunted common; and 
then when August comes there are so few flowers the moor has a dark 
appearance, instead of the lovely pink hue it should present. When heather 
has reached this stage it will require fully three years’ entire rest before 
it is able to recover itself. If, however, these danger signals are not 
attended to and the stock of sheep reduced, the latter will gradually 
devour all the green leaves of the heather, which will assume a very dark 
appearance owing to the superabundance of stalks, many of which will 
be pulled up and be seen lying about. On examining them closely it 
will be noted that only very few sickly looking leaves are to be found at 
the extremities of any of the branches, and the heather will so completely 
disappear that it is only by examining the roots of the grass that it 
can be discerned to have existed there. It will then take some years to 
recover, even if the sheep are almost entirely withdrawn. It is better 
not to attempt any burning, for the roots will throw up shoots if given 
the chance, whereas if fire be applied the roots may be destroyed, and 
as there is no heather seed with which to originate a new growth, the 
whole of the heather will be exterminated. 
When arranging for burning it must be borne in mind that plenty of 
long heather is required on a moor for shelter from heat and from storms, 
while much of the wildness of grouse at the present day arises from there 
being so little long heather now to be found on most moors. In the old 
days of shooting over dogs the value of long heather was well understood, 
for it was there the bulk of the bag was made, the birds crouching in it, 
and lying like stones. There must also be plenty of rather thin long heather 
for nesting sites; and heather of eight to ten inches for feeding. If this 
be kept in mind, and also that the plots burned should not exceed as 
a maximum half an acre in extent, or the strips more than thirty feet 
in width, the moor should attain its highest grouse -bearing capacity. 
But moors over-burned may be seen in every direction, whole hill sides 
being set on fire at once, and hundreds of acres left black and bare, and 
one wonders where the unfortunate grouse are expected to find places 
to nest in, and for shelter, for the next ten years to come. 
Long old heather is of great value in severe snow storms, for the wind, 
which generally accompanies the snow, keeps on shaking this heather, 
so that the snow settles down to the roots and a good deal of food lies 
exposed. Without such a supply the birds will have to leave the moor, 
and many may never find their way back. 
78 
