The Scottish Naturalist. 1 13 



THE RED GROUSE ( Tetrao lagopus ) 



Is the most common and best known of all our species, and 

 seems to be confined to the British Islands. It is found most 

 abundantly on our high lying moors, still it occurs occasionally 

 quite close to Perth, on such places as Caller Fountain Hill, 

 and westwards about Dupplin, and the Moss of Methven. The 

 male bird is of a rich dark chestnut brown and has the usual red 

 patch over the eye, which adds so much to the appearance of 

 all our Grouse ; the female is somewhat lighter in the colour. 

 It does not change the colour of its plumage as the Ptarmigan 

 does. The Red Grouse feeds upon the shoots of heather, 

 &c, and has no objections to breakfast on the corn stooks of 

 the highland farmer, where it sometimes falls into a rat-trap. 

 The hen lays from 7 to 14 eggs, in a very meagre nest, amongst 

 the heather, grass, or whins. 



THE BLACK GROUSE ( Tetrao tetrix). 



This is a very handsome species, and is still plentiful in Perth- 

 shire. It may be met with on the east, about Murray's Hall Hill, 

 but with one exception it has never occurred on Kinfauns, that 

 I am aware of. The male is of a glossy black, with the wing 

 and tail coverts white, and has the peculiar curl on the tail, 

 which most of us, I dare say, have noticed. The female, or 

 gray hen, as she is called in Scotland, wants this peculiarity in 

 the tail feathers, and her name gives a pretty correct idea of 

 her colour. The Black Grouse is quite at home either in forest 

 or moor, being met with frequently in the Black Woods of 

 Dupplin. In this it differs from our Red and White Grouse, 

 which never enter a wood except passing through a strip or 

 outskirt when flying from one part of a moor to another. The 

 male measures about 22 inches, while the female is some 4 or 5 

 inches shorter. 



The black-cock is very hard on any intrusion of his feathered 

 neighbours during spring, when he will attack and drive off 

 even a cock pheasant, and should the enemy take refuge in 

 a bush, the black-cock will beat the cover until he shows front, 

 when he is speedily driven off the ground. 



