236 



British Birds. 



westwards in large numbers, and on these occasions it has visited Great 

 Britain. One great irruption took place in 1863, and another in 188S, On the last 

 occasion some of the birds lingered on till the next summer and bred here. They 

 make no nest, but the eggs are laid in a slight hole in the ground. The eggs are 

 three or four in number, of an olive or brownish-buff colour, spotted with brown or 

 pale olive, with underl3'ing grey markings, and are unmistakable on account of their 

 perfectly oval shape. 



The GAME-BIRDS.— 0;v/fr Galliformes. 



This Order of Birds is too familiar to everyone of my readers to need an elaborate 



description of its characteristics. Many anatomical features separate the Game- 



Birds from all the other Orders, but their external form is so well known that there 



is no need to characterize them in detail. 



The Grouse are distinguished from the other British Game- 



^^^ birds by their feathered nostrils and feathered toes. Our Red 



RED GROUSE. 



[Lagopus scotii'iis.) 



Grouse is perhaps the most characteristically ' British ' species 

 which we pos- 



sess, for it is found nowhere else 

 than in Great Britain. Considerable 

 variation in the shade of its colour- 

 ing is met with in different localities, 

 and the male and female do not go 

 through the same process of change 

 of plumage, for whereas the male 

 moults into an autumn dress and 

 again into a winter one, he retains 

 the latter through the breeding sea- 

 son until the next autumn moult 

 supervenes. The female moults in 

 summer and autumn only, and has 

 no distinct winter plumage, while 

 the male has no distinct summer 

 plumage. 



Thi; Red Gkocse. 



