GROUSE 135 



Dublin Museum Mr. Lydekker recognised some bones 

 of the Black Grouse from Bally namintra Cave, Co. 

 Waterford, from which it was inferred that this bird 

 was once indigenous in Ireland. But Mr. Ussher 

 ("Birds of Ireland," 1900, p. 231), states that the 

 bones referred to resemble those of a small domestic 

 fowl far more closely than those of a Black Grouse. 



Hybrids between Blackcock and Pheasant have 

 been frequently obtained and recorded. 



In The Zoologist for Feb. 1885, I have described 

 and figured a curious variety of the Blackcock 

 spotted with white. Most writers agree in de- 

 scribing the Blackcock as having white under tail 

 coverts, but they omit to state that these coverts 

 are tipped with black markings, which vary in size 

 and intensity of colour with age, the older birds 

 having darker tips and more of them. 



The weight of an old Blackcock is about 4J lbs. ; 

 a young male from 2J to 3 lbs. ; a grey hen 2 to 2| 

 lbs. Grey hens breed when a year old. For infor- 

 mation on rearing Black-game see The Field, Feb. 

 27, 1875; Aug. 15, 1891; Nov. 13 and 20, 1897; 

 Jan. 14 and Feb. 4, 1899; incubation lasts twenty- 

 eight days. 



As to food, Black-game in spring feed much on 

 the cotton grass, Eriophorum vaginatum, and are 

 fond of the buds of the bog myrtle ; in summer, 

 heather, pine leaves and shoots ; in autumn, acorns, 

 oats, seeds of rush, and berries of Vaccinium Myr- 

 tillus ; in winter the catkins of the alder, and berries 

 of the rowan tree. 



