not exceeding £5 a year, and in the majority of cases were guaranteed for a period of three years. On the strength of this response a number of scientific gentlemen were asked to assist in the investigation, and a body of local correspondents in different parts of the country was appointed to make observations and to report upon any special local conditions or circumstances affecting Grouse in their respective districts. These local correspondents consisted mainly of resident proprietors, factors, estate agents, and gamekeepers. Great care was taken in their selection, and experience has shown that they have fully justified their appointment. About three hundred correspondents were formally appointed, and many other proprietors and gamekeepers corresponded regularly with the Secretary and with the staff of the Committee whenever occasion arose. The list of local correspondents might easily have been doubled by adding to it the names of those who had shown themselves able and willing to assist the investigation, but unfortunately the funds of the Committee would not admit of such addition. Lists of the Committee, of the staff, and of the local correspondents are given in Appendix A.
For the instruction of local correspondents and others who wished to be informed of the existing state of knowledge on the subject of "Grouse Disease," and further to indicate the exact points upon which information was required, the Committee drew up an illustrated pamphlet entitled "Notes on the Grouse"; in this a short summary was given of the life history of the bird, with a description of the typical characteristics of "Grouse Disease" as then recognised. The pamphlet called attention to the many theories which existed on the subject, and indicated the lines upon which the Committee proposed to carry out their investigation. This pamphlet was privately circulated among correspondents and subscribers, but was not offered for sale.
The scientific experts drew attention to the difficulty of carrying out experiments upon Grouse in a wild state, and accordingly in 1906 the Committee established an observation area in Surrey, where it was soon demonstrated that Grouse could be kept in captivity. The necessary licence was obtained from the Home Office. This observation area has been of the utmost value to the Committee.
Owing to the necessity of having a constant supply of healthy Grouse for examination in every month of the year, to enable the Committee to collect accurate information on the question of feeding, moulting, and seasonal changes, arrangements were made by members of the Committee and certain local correspondents to send to the Field Observer each monthly of the year a certain number of freshly killed birds. Many hundreds of such birds have been examined, and
