BLACKGAME 209 



foot deep, I have observed the yearling - cocks (which had 

 then apparently arrived at maturity) dancing around and 

 among" a pack of grey, the latter, as usual, utterly heedless 

 of the performance. I should add, it was not so impressive 

 as that of old blackcocks in October and November. 



During the concluding months of the year blackgame 

 do not alter their habits, except as they are influenced by 

 the weather. These handsome game-birds are now firmly 

 established on the high moors, selecting certain fixed 

 haunts — usually some flat-topped ridge, whereon patches 

 of short sweet grass are interspersed among the heather — 

 at which spots large packs may always be found. I have 

 noticed on certain moors in Northumberland a per- 

 ceptible increase in the numbers of blackgame as the year 

 advances (despite their thinning by the gun), and imagine 

 there may be at this season a partial local immigration, 

 perhaps from the higher grounds of Roxburghshire, 

 Selkirkshire, etc., beyond the Border. This is, of course, 

 merely a local redistribution. 



Heavy gales of wind and rain at this season will 

 generally drive the blackgame off the hills to seek shelter 

 in the wooded valleys and cleughs below — but not always ; 

 in attempting to review the habits of birds, it is impossible 

 to lay down absolute rules. So many and such varied causes 

 influence their habits and movements that it is unwise to 

 write dogmatically, and nearly all observations should be 

 made and read in a general sense. Excellent sport may 

 usually be looked for by driving the woods and gills the 

 morning after a storm ; but, on other days, under what 

 appear precisely similar circumstances, hardly a bird has 

 been found in the shelter. 



Not always, however, do the blackgame and the hill- 

 farmers enjoy the luxury of a mild winter. Often the 







