. An illustrated manual of British birds . emales and flock together. The young feed largely on antseggs and other insect food, while whortleberries (S:c., barley, thejuicy brown seeds of rushes, and the tops and buds of many otherplants are favourite articles of diet with the adults; abundance ofmoisture being at all times essential. Interbreeding with the Caper-caillie has already been noticed; it is not unfrequent with thePheasant, and occasionally takes place with our Red Grouse, theScandinavian Willow-Grouse and the Hazel-Grouse. The general colour of the Black-cock is bluish-black ; the
. An illustrated manual of British birds . emales and flock together. The young feed largely on antseggs and other insect food, while whortleberries (S:c., barley, thejuicy brown seeds of rushes, and the tops and buds of many otherplants are favourite articles of diet with the adults; abundance ofmoisture being at all times essential. Interbreeding with the Caper-caillie has already been noticed; it is not unfrequent with thePheasant, and occasionally takes place with our Red Grouse, theScandinavian Willow-Grouse and the Hazel-Grouse. The general colour of the Black-cock is bluish-black ; the wing-bar and the under tail-coverts being white. Length 22 in.; wing105. The Grey-hen is chiefly pale chestnut-brown, barred andfreckled with black; wing 9 in. The latter breeds in her firstspring, but the young males are liable to be driven away by theolder and stronger cocks. The dark plumage of the male is nearlyassumed by December, though the full development of the forkedtail-feathers is not attained till the third year. THE RED GROUSE. Lagopus scoticus (Latham). This species, indigenous only to the Uiitish Islands, is our repre-sentative of the Willow-Grouse (Z. ti!l>i/s), the latter inhabiting thenorthern portions of Europe, Asia and America. In Scotland,from which the Red (jrouse derives its specific name, it is gene-rally distributed over the moors of the mainland, from the highestpoint where ling {Callitiui) and heath {Erica) flourish down to thecoast-line, being also found in the Inner and most of the OuterHebrides ; while remarkably fine specimens are produced in theOrkneys, though introduction has hitherto proved a failure in theShetlands. In England this bird is found from the northern p p 482 RED GROUSE. counties—especially Yorkshire and Derbyshire—down the Penninerange as far as the Trent, as well as in , Cheshire,Staffordshire, Shropshire, and on most of the Welsh moors toGlamorganshire; but to the south-east of these lines it ha
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidillustra, booksubjectbirds
