510 

 RED GROUSE. 



Lagopus scoticus {Latham). 



Resident, abundant on all the high moors, and in severe winters 

 occurs as a straggler in lowland localities. 



Although mentioned in Whitaker's " Craven " (1812), 

 as occurring in the Skipton Castle accounts (1604-1639) of 

 Lord Clifford, last Earl of Cumberland, the first pubUshed 

 reference to this bird in Yorkshire was, so far as is ascertained, 

 made by Willughby, who alluded to it as " Red Game, called 

 in some places the Gorcock and Moorcock. It is frequent 

 in the high mountains of Derbyshire, Yorkshire," etc. (Will, 

 " Orn." 1678, p. 177). 



Another early allusion to the species is in a letter dated 

 I2th September 1724, written by Sir Hans Sloane to Dr. 

 Richardson of North Bierley, and thanking him for his 

 " present of potted Moorfowl." (" Dr. Richardson's Cor- 

 respondence," p. 212.) 



Marmaduke Tunstall also, in 1784, gave a long dissertation 

 on the Grouse in the Teesdale district, under the name of 

 " Red Cock." He stated that " This singular species of moor 



game appears to me to be confined to the British Isles 



This fine species, like the Black, has been much diminished 

 these late years to my knowledge ; have a pretty large tract of 

 moor myself of some miles extent, where I have known 25 

 or 30 brace killed of a day, but are now miserably fallen 

 off, tho' carefully watched ; and in the same state are most 

 of the moors in the North, owing to the same causes as the 

 destruction of the Black Cock. Some even say, the Act of 

 Parliament, postponing the time for the commencement of 

 shooting, has done more harm than good, as, when the young 

 ones were killed so early, the old birds frequently had a second 

 brood, which escaped, yet this appears to me rather prob- 

 lematical. When the early shooting was not forbid, they 

 began in June, when many broods were very small, and as 

 many were worried by dogs as killed by the gun. One great 

 cause of their decrease, as well as the Black Game, is the 



