Mr. W. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 37 



tity much exceeding the others were those of the autumnal havA'k-bit, 

 Apargia autumnalis — to my veteran companion, who has shot here 

 successively for about twenty seasons, this plant has long been 

 known as a favourite food of the young black game — in addition to 

 the flowers, were many leaves of a small willow, every one of which 

 taken from the bird was infested with an insect nidus. It is in the 

 evening chiefly that the black grouse resorts to the corn-fields, and 

 this it does when the grain is green, as well as when ripe. Both 

 black and red grouse killed late in the autumn, and in the course of 

 the day, are not unfrequently found, when opened, to contain oats 

 exclusively, which in such cases have been purloined in the early 

 morning*. The farmers in this part of Ayrshire often complain 

 of the damage done to their crops by these birds, especially by the 

 black grouse. In reference to the common error that this bird in- 

 creases at the expense of the red game, it may be stated that in this 

 country the numbers of the latter have in consequence suffered no 

 diminution." In the autumn of 1837 my friend first saw the hens 

 of the black game packed, when fourteen and fifteen appeared to- 

 gether. He has seen as many as seventy black cocks in company. 



The following instance of the carriage of the eggs of the black 

 grouse to a considerable distance with perfect safety after their 

 having been partly incubated, seems to me very interesting. In 

 June 1833, Mr. Arbuthnot Emerson of Belfast had brought to him 

 from Stranraer nine eggs taken from the nest of a black grouse. 

 These eggs were placed under a bantam hen, and in one week, seven 

 young birds made their appearance. Two of them soon died, but 

 the remaining five lived for about a month, or until cold and wet 

 weather set in, when they all died. The eggs were packed in fea- 

 thers, and brought by the mail-coach from Stranraer to Portpatrick, 

 where they were shipped on board the steam-packet, put into the 

 mail again at Donaghadee, and in about twelve hours after being 

 taken from the nest were placed under the bantam hen. On the 

 same subject I have learned from Wm. Sinclaire, Esq., respecting a 

 nest of partridge's eggs once brought to him from a distance of eight 

 miles, that they were quite cold when received, but being placed 

 under a common hen, the young birds came out in half the usual 

 time, thus showing, that eggs when half incubated can be carried to 

 a distance without their vitality being impaired. The same gentle- 



* Mr. Colqulioun, in his work entitled *The Moor and the Loch,' states, 

 from the circumstance of heather never having been found in any black 

 grouse opened by him, that the species never eats it; but this will not apply 

 generally, as proved in the case of birds examined by myself. Examples 

 shot in Scotland, and set up by bird-preservers in Belfast are alluded to, as 

 the contents of their gizzards only have 1 noted down. They were five in 

 number, and killed in the months of October, November, and January. 

 The first contained oats and the tops of hecith, which had given a pink tinge 

 to the grain ; the second, the twigs of heath and other plants ; the third, a 

 quantity of oats; the fourth, portions of a woody plant, perhaps heath ; tlie 

 fifth was, excepting many pebbles, entirely filled with yellowish green woody 

 matter, consisting in part, if not altogether, of the bilberry plant {Faccinium 

 Myrtillus), — they all contained many pebbles. 



