352 TETRAONID^. 



abundance of Eed Grouse in Great Britain, in spite of the 

 absence of all artificial protection, and notwithstanding the 

 vast quantity which annually fall a prey to vermin, 

 poachers, and sportsmen, proves as satisfactorily that 

 where a bird has become abundant, in a country in all 

 respects suited to its constitution and producing an inex- 

 haustible supply of its natural food, it is impossible to 

 extirpate it. If we ever had occasion to adopt a bird as a 

 national emblem, the choice might for one reason fall on 

 the Eed Grouse. It is a native of the British Isles, and 

 is found in no other country. On the moors of Scotland, 

 the hilly parts of the north of England, the mountains of 

 "Wales, and the wastes of Ireland, it is as wild and free as 

 the Gull on the sea-cHff. It frequents extensive heaths 

 where man could not protect it if he would, and finds no 

 stint of food where few living things can exist but insects 

 and some of the larger rapacious animals which make it 

 their special prey. Eagles, Falcons, Buzzards, Crows, Foxes, 

 Martins, and Polecats, all wage against it incessant war; it 

 is wholly Adthout armour, offensive or defensive ; yet its 

 numbers are undiminished. And we may confidently say 

 that, as long as there are large tracts of land in Great 

 Britain unreclaimed, there will be Grouse. 



Eed Grouse must, occasionally, fall in the way of the 

 wanderer over the Scottish moors, whatever may be the 

 object of his rambles ; but a sportsman alone is privileged 

 to make the bird his study at all seasons. My sketch, 

 therefore, of the Grouse is to be considered as taken, not 

 from the limited observation which I have been enabled 

 to make, when I have chanced to start a bird on the hills 

 of Westmoreland or the Highlands, but to be compiled 

 from the notes of others who have had more ample means 

 of observing its habits. 



" The Brown Ptarmigan, generally known by the name 

 of Eed Grouse^ as compared with the Black Grouse, is 

 met with in Scotland on all kinds of surface, provided it 



