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BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



that stage are not legitimate game. An old blackcock in 

 August which retains some or all of the long curved tail- 

 feathers of the previous year is invariably a bird in back- 

 ward condition, either from age or other cause. Such 

 birds may appear large, but scale less than smaller, tail- 

 less specimens. 



During what I may call the "stubble-period," that is 



Old Blackcock — Winter. 



from October till the middle of November (varying, of 

 course, according to the date of the harvest), blackgame 

 are often scarce on the higher moors. During September, 

 they have enjoyed abundant food on the hills in Nature's 

 crop of seeds and wild fruits, mountain-berries, etc. But, 

 as these become exhausted in October, and the corn-crops 

 are by then "led" out of the fields, the blackgame tem- 

 porarily abandon the higher moorland and resort to lower 

 grounds adjacent to tillage. Later on, as stubbles are 

 ploughed up, they return to the hills, usually in November, 



