496 RED GROUSE. 



range as far as the Trent, as well as in Lancashire, Cheshire, 

 Staffordshire, Shropshire, and on most of the Welsh moors to 

 Glamorganshire ; but to the south-east of these lines it has never 

 succeeded in maintaining itself, though introduced on the heaths of 

 Surrey and elsewhere. It is resident on most of the moorlands and 

 peat-bogs of Ireland, but is far less abundant there than in Scotlahd 

 or the north of England. About thirty years ago it was accli- 

 matized in the district of Gottenborg, South Sweden, and intro- 

 duction has been essayed in North Germany. 



Red Grouse pair very early in spring, the female making a scanty 

 nest in some depression in the ground, under shelter of a tuft of 

 heather. The 8-10 and sometimes 15 eggs are of a buffish-white 

 ground-colour, mottled with rich red or brown : measurements 175 by 

 I '2 in. Incubation, which lasts 23-24 days, does not become general 

 until April, though eggs have been found by March 17th. The 

 female sits very close, the male being usually at no great distance, 

 while on the approach of danger he emits a warning koh, kok, kok. 

 He is also in the habit of standing on a hillock and uttering a peculiar 

 crow at dawn, especially on clear, frosty mornings ; the note of the 

 hen being a strange nasal croak. The young leave the nest scon 

 after they are freed from the shell, and, with their parents, feed on 

 the leaves and fruit of the bilberry &c., the tips of ling- and heath- 

 shoots, and, occasionally, grain ; the principal feeding-time being, as 

 a rule, late in the afternoon. Unlike its congener the Willow- 

 Grouse, our bird seldom perches on trees or bushes, though it often 

 sits on earth-dykes and walls. In severe snowy weather Grouse are 

 driven from the higher moors to the lowlands, and have been known 

 to wander so far that they seem to have completely lost the bearings 

 of their old haunts. The causes of the disease to which they are 

 subject have been much disputed ; but as long ago as June 181 5 a 

 severe outbreak in the Reay country, Sutherland, was on record 

 (Zool. 1887, p. 302). 



Mr. Ogilvie Grant considers that the male presents three distinct 

 types : — a form in which the general colour is red ; a form much 

 spotted with white on the breast and belly ; and a black form, often 

 mixed with the two preceding. The complete moult begins after 

 breeding ; a change in plumage taking place early in winter. 

 Length 15 in. ; wing 8-25 in. The female (represented in the fore- 

 ground) is rather smaller and exhibits much more of a yellowish- 

 chestnut tint : she assumes a distinct breeding-plumage early in 

 May, and has a complete moult in autumn. The young moult 

 completely in their first autumn. 



