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.

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    three to twenty-four days, and leave the nest soon after they are freed from the shell. They are anxiously guarded by the parents, the hen being more attached to them than the cock, who, when they are disturbed, is the first to fly from danger, though it may be only for a short distance. The hen, on the other hand, will risk any danger rather than leave her brood— be it only a single chicken or two. Often, too, like the Partridge and many other birds, she will feign a broken wing and flutter over the heather, apparently in a terribly damaged condition, until she has lured the intruder away from her brood. This fluttering action of the old bird should always be taken as a warning that the brood is young, that the squatting chicks are probably invisible, and that the danger of treading on them is great. It is most inadvisable when a cock or hen is flushed in the nesting season to walk about to see the size of the brood. It is at this stage that the weather conditions become im- portant, for the young chicks are liable to many dangers. It is true that they do not suffer from the cold, drizzly, sunless weather which destroys so many coveys of young Partridges, they are too hardy for that; but heavy snow, hail, or rain often takes its toll and leaves little trace behind beyond the fact that the coveys are found to be reduced in numbers when they come to the gun. Probably the half-grown chick runs more risk from weather than when it is newly hatched, for its size prevents it from being completely covered by the hen when cold weather or heavy rain sets in. The period immediately following hatching, though so critical, is the period regarding which least is known. Few keepers like to disturb the ground at this time, and so the young bird’s battle for life is fought unobserved, and only the closest and most patient observation would reveal the true conditions under which the chick’s existence is passed. The young Grouse, even although they may be squatting within a few feet of the observer, are very difficult to find ; they seem to have the power of making themselves invisible at will, as they cunningly crouch by the side of a tuft of grass