216' BRITISH BIT^DS' XESTS. 



pale bl•o^YU or ash, mottled with small dusky spots 

 and bars. Wings white, the shafts of the quills 

 being black. Tail-quills black, tipped with white, 

 the two centre feathers sometimes grey ; chin wdiite ; 

 throat white, mottled with brown ; breast same 

 as back ; belly, vent, and nnder tail-coverts white. 

 Legs and feet dull white ; claws black. 



The female is a trifle smaller ; her head and 

 upper-parts have more red, rusty yellow, and black, 

 and less grey than in the case of the male. The 

 dark parts on the wing-quills are broader, and her 

 nnder-parts are darker. 



Situation and Locality. — On the ground, amongst 

 heather and the vegetation growing on the rock- 

 strewn and bleak mountains of the Highlands of 

 Scotland, and some of the larger islands of the 

 Hebrides. 



Materials. — A few bits of dead heather, dry 

 grass, or leaves, used as a lining to the hollow 

 chosen for the reception of the eggs. 



Eggs. — Seven to ten or twelve, greyish-white 

 to pale red-brown in ground colour, l)lotched and 

 spotted all over with very dark, rich brown. Size 

 about 1'7 by 1"1 in. Distingujshed from the eggs 

 of the Red Grouse by their buffy ground colour 

 and smaller number of markings. 



Time. — May and June. 



BemarJiS. — Resident. Notes, sometimes low, and 

 at others a kind of loud and prolonged croak. 

 Local and other names : Rock Grouse, White 

 Grouse, White Partridge (from the fact that the 

 bird turns white in winter), AVliite Game. Sits 

 very close, and the nest is difficult to find. 



