BLACKGAME 207 



and their food then consists largely of heather, hips and 

 haws of thorns, buds of birch and alder, and of the various 

 plants which grow in (or rather form) "old grassland." 1 



The following are the contents of the crops of four 

 blackcocks shot on November 3rd. The first, killed out 

 on the fell, contained heather alone. A brace, shot on the 

 fell-edge at dusk, half heather, and half aromatic grass- 

 plants, the former uppermost. These two birds had 

 probably been disturbed in the hay-fields below, and had 

 finished their dinner on heather. The fourth, shot on 

 grassland at dusk, contained exclusively grass-plants — 

 trefoils, sorrels, sedges, etc. Sometimes one finds a few 

 dozen oats at the bottom of the crop, though none may 

 happen to be grown within miles of where the bird was 

 killed. 



I have examined, at different times, the crops of very 

 many blackgame, and give the few following notes to 

 illustrate the variety of their food : — 



November 26. — Blackcock shot at dusk, contained 373 

 red hips and haws, weighing 4.I oz. A greyhen had 270 

 hips and 2 beech-mast, besides a few thorn-buds and some 

 grass. 



December 10. — Deep snow. Examined eleven black- 

 game ; four were empty. The other seven contained either 

 heather or alder-buds, or a mixture of the two. Two also 

 had a small proportion of rush-seeds. 



November 15. — Two old blackcocks, shot at night, 

 were filled with trefoil — the "hop-clover" that grows on 

 limestone formations — together with a few buds of bog- 

 myrtle. 



December 8.- — A grouse and a greyhen were both full 



1 These grass-plants include ranunculus, viola, common sorrel (runex 

 acetosa), plantains (plantago lanceolata), sedges, clover, and grass. 



