Animals: The Twelfth

First there were reports that early summer rains had killed off the young grouse on the Scotch, English and Welsh moors. Then there were reports that the grouse had survived the wet, were as plentiful as usual. As The Twelfth, the historic August opening of Britain's grouse season approached, the reports turned dismal again. ''Grouse disease" had thinned out the coveys. Day before The Twelfth the moors were reported soggy, dank. Consequently Scotsmen anxiously assembled at the Edinburgh and Glasgow railroad stations to note how many rich Englishmen and Americans were coming up...