RINGED GROUSE.
As the fate of a jest, however good in itself, "lies in the ear of the listener," so the success of these marking schemes lies as much with the receiver as the producer. It is of little use marking bird or fish, if those who find the marked animal do not report the discovery in the right quarter. This point is stressed by those who are making the second Scottish experiment to which I refer. A large number of grouse has been marked with a view to the discovery of their more or less local migrations. Grouse are patriots and presumably do not leave their own country. Certainly they do not fly over seas (though there is a record of the less migratory partridge crossing the Channel in a gale). But the local movements are probably much wider than is generally believed both with grouse and partridge, and sportsmen are particularly requested to send accounts of any marked grouse to the Department of Natural History Society, University of Aberdeen.
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