Page:GrouseinHealthVol1.djvu/148

76 the consumption of heather seed from 20$1/4$ per cent, in January to 2$1/2$ per cent, in February and 2$1/3$ per cent, in March is interesting as showing that once the seed has fallen to the ground it is no longer eaten by Grouse, though it may be valuable for the reproduction of the plant.

Another point is that both in this and the preceding Table, the figures relating to the consumption of blaeberry stalks and leaves are misleading because they are the result of averaging the crop contents of a large number of birds — many of them sent from localities where blaeberry is unknown. Were the crops of individual birds recorded it would be found that those coming from moors where blaeberry is common would show almost as large a consumption of that plant as of heather. Blaeberry forms as much as 30 per cent, of all foods taken by Grouse in Derbyshire, 22 per cent, in Yorkshire, and 11 per cent, in Inverness and Dumfriesshire, and very little in any of the other counties. In special cases these averages are departed from, especially when the heather crop has been a failure. Thus some December specimens from Lancashire showed the remarkable average of 80 per cent, of blaeberry stalks and buds, with only 17$2/3$ per cent, of heather shoots and 2$2/3$ per cent, of heather seed, but in this case the heather-seed crop in Lancashire was reported as very bad. In the same year the heather-seed crop in Peebles and Merioneth was reported as exceptionally good, and the December specimens from both these counties showed the proportion of 50 per cent, of heather shoots and 50 per cent, of heather seed, but no blaeberry.