132 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



bouring forests. Should the cause of their alarm remain 

 motionless and unseen, they soon return, however, and 

 immediately they have alighted, fighting is engaged in. 

 I have noticed that with the rising of the sun the birds 

 become quieter, and that when the rays fall full on the 

 fighting-ground, concord is restored between former ad- 

 versaries. Thus in dark, misty weather sparring is con- 

 tinued later than when the sky is clear, and those gathering- 

 grounds in the shelter of steep hills, and so cut off from the 

 sun, retain the birds for a considerable period after sunrise. 

 For a short time before dispersing the Black-cock feed, 

 and, should their differences have not been entirely settled, 

 they retain their tails spread out fanwise even when satisfy- 

 ing their morning appetites. There is a certain fighting- 

 ground bordering the river Dee on its upper reaches where 

 noticeably fewer Black-cock are seen at the present time as 

 compared with former years. A stalker who spoke to me 

 on the subject gave it as his opinion that Capercaillie were 

 responsible for this decrease ; that they had driven out 

 the black game. While this sounds somewhat improbable, 

 a colleague of my informant, on a visit to the ground, 

 found only a few Black-cock present and several cock 

 Capercaillie on the scene. 



When at the fighting-ground — or " lek " — the Black- 

 cocks utter a soft cooing note which in the stillness of the 

 early morning carries an extraordinary distance, and is 

 sometimes extremely difficult to locate and follow up. 

 When fighting they are said to crow hoarsely from time to 

 time. One Black-cock mates with a number of Grey-hens, 

 but takes no part in the duties of rearing the young. In 

 fact, he leaves his numerous wives before they have de- 

 posited their eggs. It is early in May, as a rule, that the 

 Grey-hen scrapes out a hollow amongst the long heather 

 carpeting a scattered pine forest, and commences to lay her 

 handsome eggs. I have remarked that she frequently 



