The grouse in health and in disease : being the popular edition of the report of the committee of inquiry on grouse disease / edited by A.S. Leslie ; assited by A.E. Shipley.

  • Great Britain. Committee of Inquiry on Grouse Disease.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The grouse in health and in disease : being the popular edition of the report of the committee of inquiry on grouse disease / edited by A.S. Leslie ; assited by A.E. Shipley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    40/542 (page 14)
    Loss of scent while sitting. Hatching. time after the return of favourable conditions. The result was that they nested several weeks later than they would otherwise have done, and not only were their broods late, but the number of eggs laid was smaller than usual—some- times averaging only four and five in a nest. The resulting smallness of the coveys was often accounted for by the hypoth- esis that several eggs in each nest had been destroyed by the frost in April; but there was little direct evidence of this, and it seems equally reasonable to suppose that the power of egg production had been impaired by the enforced postpone- ment of nesting. The data are insufficient to establish this theory, but the point is worthy of a passing mention. It is certain that some of the eggs are lost owing to their having been dropped on the snow and not in a nest at all. After a certain stage of development the egg is laid wherever the bird happens to be, and it is not uncommon to find eggs dropped in this accidental manner lying on the ground or on snow. During the nesting season the hen leaves her nest for a short time in the morning and evening to feed and drink, and her presence in any particular part of a moor may be known by the large “ clocker ” droppings peculiar to a sitting bird. During the period of sitting the Grouse seems to be able to intermit its natural odour, and thus escape the notice of dogs and vermin. This point is noted by St John in “ Wild Sports of the Highlands ” when he states : “ It is a curious fact, but one which I have often observed, that dogs frequently pass close to the nests of Grouse, Partridges and other game without scenting the hen bird as she sits on her eggs.” 1 Probably the cause of the loss of scent is that when the bird is sitting still the air does not get amongst the feathers and so the scent is retained. The same remark probably accounts for the fact that at midday, when the birds are resting, they are very difficult to find with dogs. The young Grouse are hatched after an incubation of twenty- 1 St John, “Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands,” p. 29. London : John Murray, 1878.