BLACK GROUSE. 155 



has a yellowish-green colour. Beyond this, it assumes a grey- 

 ish-brown tint. The nutritious parts are extracted in this 

 course by the lacteals, and as the mass passes into the rectum, 

 the finer particles are absorbed or drawn in by the coeca, the 

 contents of which are a uniform pultaceous mass of a dull yel- 

 lowish-brown colour, in w^hich the vegetable fibres can no longer 

 be distinguished by the naked eye, whereas in the rectum they 

 are very perceptible. It would appear that the coarser parts 

 pass directly from the small into the large intestine, and that 

 the more comminuted only enter the coeca, adhering to the 

 villous surface, and especially to the rug^ of which we find 

 an impalpable deposit, which is absorbed. The foeces in the 

 rectum are comparatively dry, and form a continuous cylinder, 

 in wdiich state, mixed w^ith the urine, they are voided, forming 

 a small heap of cylindrical fragments. 



According to the season, the food varies, although heath twigs 

 always form the principal part. In spring the tops of eriophora, 

 carices, blades of grass, willow-catkins, and buds of trees ; in 

 summer leaves of various shrubs ; and in winter juicy twigs 

 of all kinds, are found in the crop. 



The Black Grouse, then, like other species of the genus, is 

 a phytophagous bird, which, feeding on substances containing 

 comparatively little nourishment, introduces a large quantity 

 at a time, like a ruminating quadruped, and gradually tritu- 

 rates it in the gizzard. In feeding, it walks about among the 

 shrubs and herbage, where it has time to select fragments of 

 the proper size and quality. The crop is merely a recipient, 

 in which the food undergoes little or no change. It passes 

 thence into the gizzard, mixed with the juice from the proven- 

 tricular glands. When triturated, it enters the duodenum, 

 where it assumes a pulpy appearance, and undergoes the pro- 

 cess of digestion. The nutritious parts are absorbed as it passes 

 along ; but as its passage requires to be rapid, it undergoes a 

 farther elaboration and absorption in the extremely large coeca, 

 into wdiich, however, the coarser fibres do not enter. 



In searching for food, the Black Grouse frequents the lower 

 grounds of the less cultivated districts, not generally removing 

 far from the shelter of woods or thickets, to which it betakes 



