NOTES ON THE MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF ROUSAY. 57 



localities, till the end of November, when a few began 

 to show themselves else^s^here again. They feed 

 about twice or thrice a day, and the rest of the 

 time sit quietly in the rocks. One breeding and 

 roosting place I visited was on one of the Green 

 Holms in the Westray Firth, and into this we had 

 to enter on our hands and knees. There were two 

 eggs lying in a nest on the ground, quite rotten. 



Pigeons have a regular route to and from their 

 roosting places, but these latter they shift in stormy 

 weather when the spray dashes into them. White 

 varieties and those with the blue rumj) are common, 

 also those with mottled black markings on the wings. 

 In the Island of Egilshay, where there are no rocks 

 sufficiently high, the Rock Doves breed in the tower 

 of the old church of St. Magnus. 



Galling. 

 Fam. Tetraonince. 



Red Grouse (Tetrao scoticus). Whatever may have 

 been the case, the Red Grouse is now an inhabitant 

 of three islands only — the Mainland, Rousay, and 

 Eday. The Rousay birds are said to be the heaviest 

 of any part of Scotland, and when they are at the 

 best^from the middle of October to the middle of 

 November — If lbs. is not at all an unusual weight. 

 After the middle of November I always fancy that 

 grouse get smaller and lighter ; they certainly do not 

 appear so large when brought to the table. 



In plumage the Rousay grouse vary but little. 

 Here, as in Sutherland, the red variety is the rarest, 

 and I have got cocks and hens almost identical in 

 coloration. They are remarkably silent birds, a 

 crow being rarely heard, even in the breeding season, 

 except early in the morning. 



About the middle of October the hens and cocks 

 to a great extent separate, the hens going in 

 parties of from five to twelve. They are then much 

 wilder than the cocks, of which rarely more than 

 three are together. In stormy weather grouse come 



