BLACK GROUSE. 159 



" My Dear Sir — Agreeably to your request, I have the plea- 

 sure of sending you a few remarks respecting Black Game, 

 which I made in the course of my shooting excursions in Dum- 

 friesshire and Galloway. Black Grouse were j)articularly 

 abundant in the year 1831. About the end of the month of 

 August of that year, my friend and I started after breakfast to 

 have some sport upon his own estate, in the parish of Parton, 

 six or eight miles from Castle Douglas, which ever was cele- 

 brated for this species of game. In the course of two hours, 

 not more I am sure, we bagged thirty birds, and had we not 

 been interrupted by a very hea\^^ thunder shower, we should 

 have doubled that number. The unusual proportion of young 

 cocks attracted our attention, as we did not follow the usual 

 method of picking them out, but killed indiscriminately : out 

 of thirty, only three were hens. It is not easy to distinguish 

 the young cocks early in the season. I used to pick them 

 out on the wing by their white feathers, and they always 

 appeared to me to be more shy than the hens. Later in 

 the season, say the middle of September, the cocks are easily 

 made out. Previous to and during rain Black Grouse are 

 very restless and wild. I never found this species far from 

 water; and the many nests I have stumbled on, generally 

 in a heather bush or among long grass, were invariably within 

 thirty yards or so of a spring. The nests were composed 

 of hay, nicely put together. On approaching a brood, I re- 

 marked that the first bird which rose was the old hen, and 

 always at a considerable distance from her progeny, in a flut- 

 tering manner, so that a person unaccustomed to see this strata- 

 gem would suppose her to be wounded. She conducts herself 

 in fact precisely as the hen Partridge when similarly disturbed. 

 With the Red Grouse it is the old cock that rises first. Early 

 in the season I have frequently observed the old Blackcock 

 with the brood, and he too is famous for leading the dogs from 

 them. I have often followed the run of an old cock for a great 

 distance before he would rise, and afterwards returned to the spot 

 from whence I started, and found the young brood. The cocks 

 do not challenge when disturbed, as those of the Red Grouse 



