19 CHAPTER II THE MANNERS OF THE GROUSE THE anxious time for those of us who happen to possess moors, or even to have leased those of others, arrives in the spring of the year, when the grouse, that have long since paired off with their respective mates, begin to occupy their stations for the summer and to go to nest. Without wishing to dogmatise too nicely, it is fair to say that almost every bird upon the moor occupies its peculiar station for many successive years, unless, of course, interfered with by human agency. It has been said, for example, that if an ornithologist wishes to explore any district in Lapland in search of the eggs of the rarer species, he should spend the time of a preliminary expedition in marking down the precise situations which each pair of any one species choose to occupy. We can all of us see the force of this remark even at home. Season after season witnesses to the faithfulness with which the curlew and its mate return to a long and desolate strip of broken moorland lying under the shadow of the Coolin Hills; the eggs are almost always laid about the same spot, and generation after generation of downy chicks enter into existence on the same patch of heather and rough grass. It is the same with the ptarmigan that nestles up in the lonely corrie above Sligachan. I have seen the nests of two seasons placed side by side on a slope of green turf, screened from observation by the same convenient boulders of rock. Indeed, I could tell you where to find the nest of the greenshank and many another rare bird, knowing from long intimacy with their haunts precisely the positions that these birds are likely to occupy in successive seasons. This principle applies as truly to the red grouse as to other birds, making allowance for the destruction of old females in the shooting season. On my own ground, at any rate, I have a very good idea where to look for grouse nests, although I never search for them intentionally, but only stumble upon them incidentally. No good sportsman would wish to organise a hunt for grouse nests. The grouse is a very particular bird, and often deserts her eggs if suddenly startled from her charge. Of course, there are many hen grouse which would rather allow themselves to be trodden upon than leave their eggs, and their faithful ness to maternal duties is touching in its way. But the grouse is naturally a shy, timid creature, and will not willingly brook much interference. A grouse moor can hardly be kept too quiet in the breeding season. That is the reason why proprietors object so strongly to the intrusion of parties of tourists being forced upon them by any Radical legislation. Strangers do not, of course, intend the least in the world to do us any harm, but in point of fact they are pretty certain to scare some birds badly, and thus to diminish the supply of chicks hatched out. Some people may suggest that grouse breed so very early that the young are hatched long before the tourist season. The grouse is an early breeding bird in the north of England, and often begins to lay eggs during the month of March if the season happens to be warm and genial. In the north of Scotland incubation is much later. In the island of Skye, April 24 is a decidedly early date for a full clutch of grouse eggs. May and June are the two months in which the majority of grouse hens go to nest. Although most of us have accustomed ourselves to speak of grouse nests, the expression is hardly exact, for the eggs are deposited in a mere scratching, scantily lined with a few dry stems of grass or twigs of heather. Some of the text-books, it is true, speak of feathers being used |