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Red Grouse on the Continent. 
XL— A Note concerning Red Grouse on the Continent. 
By W. Somerville, Professor of Rural Economy, Oxford. 
It is no doubt within the knowledge of many that the Red 
Grouse ( Lagopus scoticus) of the British Isles has been 
successfully introduced on the Continent, but it may not be 
so well known how remarkably the bird has thriven in its 
new quarters. In September last I had occasion to visit the 
Hohe Venn, that elevated region of moorland situated along 
the Germano-Belgian frontier south of Spa, and as I was 
aware that it was in this district that the experiment in 
acclimatization had been made, I naturally kept a look¬ 
out for examples of the bird, and in a short walk over a 
moor I flushed a strong covey. 
The experiment has been watched with interest by con¬ 
tinental sportsmen, and its progress has been noted in various 
periodicals, amongst others, ‘ Das Waidwerk im Wort und 
Bild/ 1896, pp. 81 & 161, f Die Allgemeine Eorst und 
Jagd Zeitung/ 1901, p. 399, and f Das Centralblatt fur das 
gesammte Forstwesen/ 1901, p. 323. From these we iearn 
that the first attempt was made in Kreis Malmedy by 
A. Barry-Herrfeldt, of Schloss Marteau, who in October 1893 
liberated some birds, which, however, only survived a fort¬ 
night. In the following December another attempt was 
made, but it also ended in failure. In August 1894 the 
same experimenter imported fifty pairs, and by the autumn 
of 1895 they or their progeny had spread all over the Hohe 
Venn. By 1901 the number of birds in the two u Kreise ” 
of Malmedy and Montjoin was estimated at 1000 head, and 
this in spite of regular shooting for some seasons. 
The successful outcome of the experiment has had a 
marked effect on the sporting value of land in the neigh¬ 
bourhood, shooting rents having risen greatly in value. 
As regards close time, and penalties for killing out of 
season or by illegal methods, Belgium and Germany have 
practically bracketed the Grouse with the Partridge—that is 
to say, it is protected from December 1 to August 31—the 
penalty for killing a bird out of season being M. 6 in 
Germany, and presumably about the same in Belgium. 
