GROUSE AND PARTRIDGES.
It has been noticeable in recent years that the preliminary estimates of grouse, as of partridges, on particular moors and farms have been singularly inaccurate. This year the grouse have certainly exceeded expectation in a good many places ; and I believe the reason of the bad prophecies is that the old habit of walking the ground before shooting begins has been given up. Of course, on partridge shoots (at any rate, where the excellent " Euston system " is practised) a keeper must know just how many nests there are ; and will have a shrewd idea how the families have flourished. But in less highly artificial circumstances it is very difficult, especially when harvest is as late as this year, to make an estimate of the number of coveys. I have walked with a keeper over a wide area of good partridge land in August, and seen not a single bird ; and the amateur keeper has reported to his employer that it will be scarcely worth while to shoot at all. On the First, nevertheless, the fields have proved populous. It may be, as some aver, that partridges are slowly diminishing, owing to the loss of arable land, and the increase of both • vermin and poachers ; but grouse are certainly growing more numerous, thanks to the more scientific treatment of the moors, especially the burning of the heather. Is there any bird that is quite so dependent on any one plant as the grouse on the ling or heather ? It is like the great copper butterfly in this regard. * * •
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