206 W. BICKERTON— »-NOTES ON BIRDS 



tetrix), and the red grouse {Lagopus scoticus). The first-named 

 of these is a bird of the most erratic and irruptive character, 

 whose home, according to Mr. Howard Saunders, " is to be 

 found from the eastern side of the Caspian Sea to the Tian- 

 Shan and the Altai ranges, all over MongoHa and Southern 

 Dauria, down to the Koko-nor and Tsaidam, and in ^dnter to 

 the plains of Pechili, in China." The second of the three, the 

 black grouse or black-game, is a resident bird in parts of 

 England, m Scotland, Scandinavia, Russia, and the hilly 

 districts of G-ermany and Central Europe. The tliird, the red 

 grouse, is found as a native bird in the British Isles alone, and 

 occiirs in no other part of the world, save in places where 

 attempts may have been made to introduce it. Now, Pallas's 

 sand-grouse, the Central Asian " grouse," has been recorded in 

 Hertfordshire on six different occasions since 1863, 23 individual 

 birds having been obtained or seen. Yet the grey-hen shot at 

 Watford is the first recorded specimen of the black grouse for 

 Hertfordshire, and the red grouse, one of a very small number 

 of species which are absolutely confined to the British Isles alone, 

 has never yet been seen in or recorded from the county. What 

 a crazy patchwork of ornithological eccentricity facts like these 

 make when placed side by side ! And if anyone wishes to indulge 

 in the pleasant pastime of speculation, such facts as these will 

 give plenty of material to work upon. 



The male black grouse is known as the black-cock, the female 

 as the grey-hen, and these names indicate in a general way the 

 differences in plumage. Black grouse are found (according to 

 Mr. Howard Saunders) " locally and in small niunbers in Devon, 

 Cornwall, and Somerset, while they still maintain themselves 

 in Dorset, Wilts, and the New Forest district. In Siissex, Sm-rey, 

 and Berkshire their presence is the result of re-introduction early 

 in the present century, and none are now to be found in Kent. 

 They are scattered locally over the wilder portions of the Midland 

 counties, the Marches, and many parts of Wales, and north of 

 Sherwood Forest in every English county. They are distributed 

 in varying niunbers over the mainland of Scotland, and in many 

 of the Inner Hebrides, but in Ireland were never indigenous." 

 A distribution which I venture to remark makes it still more 

 ciu-ious to reflect that the bird has never before been recorded 

 for Hertfordshire. 



In his ' Recreations of a NaturaHst,' Mr. J. E. Harting writes 

 as follows upon the black grouse : — " There was a time when 

 black-game was spread all over the country from north to south, 

 wherever the conditions were favourable to its mode of living, and 

 its existence at the present time in the West of England, side by 

 side Avith the red deer, is only a survival, owdng to the unchanged 

 nature of its ancient haimts. Needless to say, it is a moorland 

 bird, often living where red grouse are, but oftener where there 

 are none or very few, for the nature of its haunts is somewhat 

 different. The red grouse lie out on the open moor, where they 



