of nutritive food than at any other time of the year, and it is doubtless due to this cause that Grouse make such rapid growth in size and Young
growth
very
nourishing. strength between the date of hatching in May, and the opening of the shooting season some ten or twelve weeks later.
It is in the month of May also that the young heather plants first begin to appear on the black ground, where the old heather has been burned. The length of time that elapses between the date of burning and the Growth of
young
plants. growth of the new heather varies. If the roots are not too old, and have not been destroyed by the fire, the new growth will spring from them within a year; on some ground this always occurs. If, however, the roots have been burnt out, or are too old to send forth new shoots, the ground must lie waste for years, until a fresh growth of heather springs from wind-blown seed or from the seed lying dormant in the soil or blown on to it.[1]
It is usual to suppose that the first shoots of the young heather as they appear above the ground are greedily eaten by Grouse. Observation has shown that this view is not strictly correct, for the adult birds will Adult
Grouse do
not eat
seedling
heather. never feed on the immature plant so long as they can find plenty of close-growing heather of the type described on p. 72. This is fortunate, for otherwise the first growth might be very severely checked on a moor carrying a heavy stock of birds. Sheep, on the other hand, are very fond of the tender young shoots, and are often most destructive Sheep do to seedlings which have not had time to secure a firm roothold.
While the adult Grouse does not eat the very young heather, there is no doubt that the chicks prefer it to the shoots of the more mature So do
Grouse
chicks. plant; but the amount eaten by them in the days of their infancy is so small that they cannot make any material impression on the growth of the plant.
In June there is a continuance of the favourable conditions which commenced in May. It will be seen by reference to Table III. that in this Heather in
June. month the consumption of fresh green shoots of heather rises 82 per cent., while that of brown winter heather drops to zero.
In July the consumption of heather drops to its lowest for the year — only 53 per cent.; this is doubtless partly due to the ripening of In July. blaeberry leaves which occurs in this month. The consumption of blaeberry stalks and leaves has risen to 20 per cent., while the quantity of berries eaten is
- ↑ Vide chap. xviii. p. 400.
