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.

    39/542 (page 13)
    Enough has been said to emphasise the statement that the eggs of the Grouse are wonderfully tolerant of adverse weather conditions ; the fact is not sufficiently well recognised, and because occasional losses occur there is a tendency among gamekeepers to put down every failure of stock to some sharp frost or heavy snowfall in the months of April or May. They often do not inquire whether as a matter of fact any eggs were laid at the date when the frost occurred, they seldom support their statement by pointing out nests deserted by the hen after being buried in the snow, they keep the plausible explana- tion ready for use if required, and if the stock after all proves to be up to the average, they feel secretly rather surprised, but say nothing about the adverse conditions in the breeding season, for the excuse may be required the following spring. Thus much valuable evidence is lost owing to the very natural desire of the gamekeeper to prove himself the innocent victim of circumstances. Obviously, if the occasional snowstorms and moderate frosts of a normal April were really responsible for the damage so often attributed to them, it would follow that in a really inclement nesting season, such as occurred in 1908, the effects would have been disastrous throughout the length and breadth of the country. As a matter of fact, the bags in the autumn of that year, though unequal, were well up to, and in some places far above the average ; and even where a shortage of birds was reported the failure could often be traced to other causes than the unfavourable weather-conditions in the spring. While the evidence collected does not confirm the view that snow and frost in the nesting season are extensively destruc- tive to the eggs of Grouse, there is some reason to believe that unfavourable weather, occurring immediately before the date of laying, has an injurious effect upon the breeding powers of the parent birds. In the spring of 1908, for example, it was observed that on many moors birds which had paired, and were about to nest, became packed again on the arrival of frost and snow, and postponed their breeding operations until some