GROUSE.
Exact statistics cannot be obtained of the number of grouse annually killed upon the Moors; but estimates of a reliable kind have occasionally been published, from which we learn, that as many as five hundred thousand annually reach the markets, in addition to the numbers given away as presents or ‘consumed on the premises.’ That this figure, large as it may appear to those who are not well versed in sporting matters, is not exaggerated, will be apparent when we mention on good authority, that on some days of August as many as sixteen thousand grouse (single birds) have been received by the London wholesale dealers; and that for days in succession, supplies of from two to ten thousand birds reach the metropolis to be sold to the retailers. But no matter how great may be the slaughter on the grouse-moors in any given year, the death-roll of the following season is frequently even greater. The grouse, in common with many other birds, protected or otherwise, is endowed with great powers of reproduction; and even when disease has on some occasions played such havoc with the birds, that on some vast stretches of heather only half-a-dozen brace may have been left to multiply and replenish, yet, in two or three seasons they will have increased with such rapidity as to be more numerous on that ground than they ever were before. Stories of nests being seen with as many as fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen eggs have often gone the round of the newspapers; but the usual number of eggs annually laid by each female may be fixed at not less than from seven to nine.
But the chief question is not so much the number of eggs produced, as the number of birds which are hatched and the percentage of these that become food for powder. The grouse has a hundred enemies lying in wait to do mischief—to destroy the nests, suck the eggs, or kill the tender brood; nor are the parents spared, when the enemy is their superior in strength and cunning. Let all who have the chance walk the heather in June and July with an observant eye, and note the damage which has been done during the breeding season by foes, both quadruped and biped. See yonder carrion crows, how they sweep down on those spots of heather which are populous with nests and young ones! And what a delicious titbit for stoat and weasel do the day-old ‘cheepers’ afford! Many a gallant battle will be fought by the male grouse on behalf of his mate and her eggs, as he does not hesitate to defend them from the greedy crow, nor is afraid even of the bloodsucking weasel. Whenever danger threatens the home of his little family, the cock-grouse is up in arms, ready to do all he can for the protection of madame and her chicks. Before twenty-four hours have elapsed, the nest in which the young ones have been hatched seems to be no longer necessary for rearing purposes, and is consequently forsaken; and the parents and their family take to a nomadic life, travelling about with a rapidity which is wonderful, considering the tender age of the brood. It is also a curious circumstance that one or two birds of almost every nest come to maturity at an earlier date than their brothers and sisters—the percentage that displays this precocity of growth being about two out of every seven; and we have been told by shepherds that these are ‘the cock’s own birds.’
Both parents are attentive to their young ones, and tend and nurse them with assiduity and care; but the birds which are specially looked after by the male, come on, it is thought, the quickest. The father of the brood, however, seldom takes in hand to pay attention to more than three members of his family, no matter how numerous may be the total number hatched. The cock-grouse is a brave parent; but in addition to being courageous, he is cunning as well, and in times of danger frequently outwits his enemies by his superior resources. He is often able, when his brood is threatened, to find a safe hiding-place for them, or is skilful in devising other modes of escape from sudden danger.
But notwithstanding all the care which the parent birds are able to bestow on their young ones, the percentage of mortality, as in the case of other wild animals, is always considerable. In the first place, there are ‘the elements’ to do battle with. A stormy spring-time will delay pairing; the birds are late ere they begin their work of egg-laying, and deluges of rain will wash the eggs out of the nests or drown the tender nestlings. Nevertheless, there is still a head of game left for the sportsman; and after the moors have been industriously trodden for a few weeks, there may yet remain a stock of birds sufficiently numerous to insure an ample supply for the sportsmen of the future.
The exact number of moorfowl that a given acreage of moor will feed and breed cannot be stated except by way of an estimate. Some shootings are much better stocked than others of similar size, probably because the breeding accommodation is good and the food more plentiful. To insure good sport on the Twelfth and subsequently, much requires to be done to a moor. It must be traversed by keepers, whose duty it is to trap and otherwise destroy the ‘vermin;’ patches of old heather must be burned to insure the growth of young shoots, upon which grouse delight to feed; and poachers and other trespassers must be dealt with. In some places where the heather is well cared for and systematically burned, and where the vermin are looked after, the return will be much more liberal than on moors that have been left to themselves, though, strangely enough, in some districts, one of several contiguous moors will often produce a greater percentage of birds than can be obtained on any of the others. Big bags quickly filled are the order of the opening day, and instances of modern sport will bear us out when we say that two guns have been known to kill two hundred and eighty single birds on the first or second day of the season; and we have known a small party to have shot in the course of ten days as many as nine hundred and fifty-two brace. On some of the English grouse moors, still larger bags are occasionally recorded. On the Wemergill moor, belonging to Sir Frederick A. Millbank, there were shot in four days in 1882 by seven guns on the first two days, and by four guns on the next two, four thousand eight hundred and thirty-three grouse. Some twenty years ago, a good sportsman was well contented with his sixteen or twenty brace of birds; but we shoot faster and closer nowadays.
All who have had occasion to take a moor for themselves or friends, know that the pastime of grouse-shooting is yearly becoming more and more expensive. ‘The heather is cheap enough,’ we are sometimes told; ‘it ranges from about sevenpence to eighteenpence an acre;’ and that certainly does not appear to be an expensive matter; but the extras mount up to a tidy sum before the season closes. No good shooting with a comfortable residence upon it can be obtained much under two hundred and fifty pounds for the season; but that sum, with travelling expenses hither and thither of family and servants, the payment of keepers and gillies, the entertainment of guests, and other items of expenditure, becomes largely augmented. There are always, of course, shootings in the market at the most varied prices, from a share of a moor at perhaps twenty-five pounds, to a stretch of heather with palatial residence, and perhaps salmon-fishing, that costs a thousand pounds and upwards. Various terms are occasionally exacted besides the payment of a given sum by way of rent—the number of birds to be shot is specified, and the period of occupation strictly laid down in the articles of lease. There are, however, moors which are let on a pretty long lease for good rentals, where the tenant is, as it may be, put on honour, and shoots as few or as many birds as he pleases, it being understood, that when he quits the ground, he shall leave upon the heather as good a breeding stock as he found.
Yearly, or, as they may rather be called, season tenants, have often proved somewhat unscrupulous as to this factor of grouse-moor economy, and have been known to shoot every bird that could be found. It is because of such dishonourable conduct that landlords or factors have been compelled to lay down stringent conditions as to the number of birds that shall be slain during the shooting season. There are persons who make it their business to rent a moor in order that they may completely despoil the heather of its feathered treasures. In some instances of this kind of dealing, a large stretch of moorland has been depopulated in the course of a few days, the lessee being assisted in his deadly work by a band of confederates, and the grouse hurried into the market—this being of course the intention of all concerned from the beginning. It is the next tenant of that shooting who suffers. Both laird and factor being very likely ignorant of what has occurred, the ground is again let for the season; and the tenant—who probably had omitted the precaution of previously visiting the moor to satisfy himself as to the chances of coming sport—finding that birds are exceedingly scarce, is naturally very much annoyed. In consequence of such fraudulent practices, sportsmen rarely take a moor without some guarantee of the quantum of sport they are likely to obtain; while on the other hand lairds are yearly becoming more particular as to the character of offering tenants.
The expenses of a shooting are nowadays so great, that it is the custom for nearly all who take a moor to send a considerable number of their birds to market. In the days of our grandfathers, it would have been thought mean to sell one’s grouse, most of the birds which then were shot being distributed as presents. But in those days, shooting was truly a ‘sport,’ and was leisurely gone about, with the result that, in a comparative sense, not more perhaps than a third of the number now killed were shot. It must, however, be borne in mind that at the period indicated, say fifty years ago, breech-loaders had not been invented; the same facilities for reaching distant markets were not in existence; the modes of steam transport, now so well developed, were only in their infancy; and the rents of moors were not, speaking roundly, more than a fourth of what they are to-day. Ten or twelve thousand acres of productive heather might have been leased in the days of our grandfathers for little more than a hundred pounds a year, and probably not above seventy or eighty, or at most a hundred brace of birds would be shot upon it—no more being needed, the London and other grouse markets not being then in existence, at anyrate not in the active way that we find them to-day. Seeing that fifty years ago there was even a greater expanse of heather than there is now, it is curious to note the increased abundance of game, though the apparent increase may partly be accounted for by the modern methods of suppressing moorland ‘vermin.’ Formerly, hawks, carrion crows, stoats, and other grouse-foes, roamed the moors comparatively unmolested, and doubtless committed great havoc. Nowadays, gun and trap destroy those creatures, and secure a larger head of game to the sportsman. That being so, grouse are sent in large quantities to market in order to be sold, much to the benefit of the general public.
Grouse commerce is of varied incidence. There are persons, for instance, who before the shooting season begins will contract with the lessees of moors to receive all the birds they can shoot, at a fixed price per brace. These contractors take their chance of making a profit by sending the grouse they receive to London, Liverpool, Manchester, &c., to be sold for what they will bring. It depends on the season how they fare. If the supply is large, the price falls, and little profit may in consequence be realised. On the other hand, if the supply is less than the demand, then prices rise and profits are insured. Some lessees consign their birds to a dealer, and agree to take the market price—a commission being allowed on sales. The prices vary according to the quality and plumpness of the birds. Thus, we have seen a large number of the return lists from big salesmen in London and Manchester, in which the prices range from 7s. 6d. and 6s. 9d. for single birds, down to 1s. 3d. The following salesman’s note speaks for itself: ten at 7s. 6d.; twenty at 6s. 6d.; thirty at 5s. 9d.; forty-nine at 4s. 6d.; twenty at 3s. 9d.; twenty at 2s.; twelve at 1s. 6d.—total, one hundred and sixty-one, all priced, be it noted, as single birds. These will have been sent in hampers, and will most likely be disposed of by auction by the salesmen to the West-end poultrymen and game-dealers of London; who in turn will fix the price of the finest of the birds at probably a guinea a brace. The returns for sales are very varied; at times the market is so glutted with grouse, that none of them will bring more, perhaps, than two shillings or half-a-crown. Such loads of grouse in plentiful seasons now reach our populous towns and great cities by the 13th and 14th of August, that this delicious game may be bought at quite a moderate figure.