600 



AVES— BLACK GROUSE. 



THE BLACK GROUSE, OR BLACK COCK.1 



Is much more common. It is found in many parts of Europe, and in most 

 of the moors in the north of England, Wales, and Scotland. Its name 

 almost furnishes its description, since the whole body is black, which, how- 

 ever, is iridescent, and in some positions of the light, it shows a beautiful 

 purple; but it has another remarkable characteristic, which is, that its tail 

 is forked. It is rather larger than a common fowl, and is in length from 

 twenty-four to twenty-eight inches. At the breeding season their contests 

 are so furious, that in Courland, Livonia, &c, it is a common method of 

 taking them, to assemble them together, by imitating the crowing of a black 

 cock, and by having a figure prepared to imitate that animal in all its mo- 

 tions. The grouse, being collected in vast numbers from all parts, enter 



into a bloody contest; when the combatants are so intent upon each other's 

 destruction, that they fall an easy prey to their pursuers, and may even be 

 knocked down with a stick. There is a variety of this species with a plain 

 tail. 



1 Tetrao tetri.r, Lin. 



