THE BLACK- CO CI'. i-js 



at nightfall two men set out, one with a gun, and the other with a long pole, 

 to each end of which a torch is fastened. The man with the torch fjoes first, 

 and they make their way as well as they can to the tree on which they believe 

 the birds to be roosting. Very soon they reach the spot, and there are the 

 poor birds wrapped in slumber ; even when they wake they seem to have no 

 idea of escaping, but stare in a stupid manner at the blazing torches till they 

 are nearly all shot down. 



THE BLACK-COCK. 



The handsome bird of which we have been speaking is not fitted to live in 

 the present state of our island. Britain is too thickly peopled for it to find 

 any secure retreat, and the size and beauty of the capercailzie, and the great 

 demand for it as an article of food, have occasioned its destruction. Though 

 efforts are being made to bring it back, yet it belongs, as it were, to the past. 



But there are still some very handsome members of the grouse family 

 remaining, and among these is the black grouse, or black-cock, as he is-callcd. 

 He is a large strong bird, with handsome plumage, and the plumes of the 

 feathers are very full and large, especially those at the hinder part of the 

 body, which project beyond the tail feathers in the manner you see in the 

 picture. The feathers of the head and neck and hind part of the back are 

 glossy and smooth like silk. On the whole, he is one of the finest native 

 birds we possess. His favourite home is the moors and hills of Scotland, and 

 his habits are well known to the sportsman, as well as to the naturalist. 



Early in the morning of a clear autumnal day he may be seen by the 

 watchful observer threading his way through some romantic glen where the 

 heather grows. He pecks off tender morsels of the young twigs with his bill, 

 and as he goes on, meets with berries and wild fruit, none of which he despises. 

 His crop is very large, and by degrees it becomes quite full of twigs and 

 berries that have passed into it, and go down into the gizzard like a com- 

 pact mass. The mill is, however, strong enough to grind it into pulp, aided 

 by morsels of sand and gravel, which these kind of birds are in the habit of 



