THE BLACK GROUSE 133 



chooses the vicinity of a road or stalking path for her 

 nesting site, doubtless with the view to leading her chicks 

 to ground where they can walk without difficulty. Not in- 

 frequentlj^ the nest is made under a small pine growing on 

 the outskirts of a wood and surrounded by long heather. 

 It is doubtful whether the depression scraped by the 

 Grey-hen justifies the word " nest " being applied to it. It 

 may, perhaps, be lined with a few blades of grass or pine 

 needles, but when these are present they are, I think, 

 as often as not there by accident. 



The eggs number from seven to ten. A description 

 of those of the Capercaillie applies with equal force to 

 them, except that they are smaller in size. Incubation 

 lasts for twenty-four days, and sometimes the mother 

 bird sits very closely. On one occasion I discovered, 

 shortly after a severe May snowstorm, the deserted nest 

 of a Grey-hen containing a solitary egg. I surmised that 

 the second nest must be somewhere near, and shortly after- 

 wards found the Grey-hen sitting on her nest in a thick 

 pine wood. The situation of the nest was an unusual one, 

 and resembled more a Capercaillie's site than a Grey-hen's. 

 The nest was placed beneath a fallen pine branch with 

 no ground vegetation anywhere near, and doubtless the 

 bird had sought the shelter of the wood on account of 

 her first unpleasant experience with the snow. 



Although incubation had just been commenced she 

 sat very closely, and I succeeded in approaching her to 

 within a few feet and exposing a number of plates. Nearly 

 three weeks afterwards I again visited her nesting site, 

 expecting that the bird would now sit more closely than 

 on the first occasion, but I found that this was not the 

 case. 



Another nest in the neighbourhood from which the 

 young had been hatched contained a couple of eggs which, 

 on being broken, showed well -formed chicks, and had the 



