BLACKCOCK 



5 



as colour is concerned, being paralleled among mammals by the black- 

 buck among antelopes and the bantin among wild oxen. 



The lyre-shaped tail of the cock, and the rather deep forking of this 

 appendage in the hen are sufficient to distinguish this species ; steely 

 blue is the colour of the plumage of the cock, although there is a white 

 bar across the secondary wing-quills, while the under tail-coverts are 

 wholly colourless. A 

 vermilion band of bare 

 skin runs above the eyes ; 

 the beak is black ; and 

 the legs are feathered to 

 the bases of the toes, 

 which, like those of the 

 capercaillie, are clad in 

 scales and fringed at the 

 edges. The black mark- 

 ings on the tail of the 

 hen differ from those of 

 the capercaillie in being 

 stippled in fine lines, in- 

 stead of forming bars ; 

 while the back is irregu- 

 larly barred with golden 

 brown between large oval 

 black blotches. The 

 chestnut - brown crown 

 and black stripe behind 

 the eye distinguish the 

 blackcock from the caper- 

 caillie chick ; the former 



also having a dusky stripe, turning into chestnut-brown on the loins, 

 and down the back. 



The blackcock has an extensive range in Europe and Central and 

 northern Asia, being found so far south as the eastern Pyrenees, 

 northern Italy, and the north of the Caucasus. The bird inhabiting 

 the greater part of the Caucasus has, however, been described as a 

 distinct species, as have those respectively found in southern Russia 

 and Turkestan on the one hand, and in west Siberia on the other. 

 Whether, however, some of them are more than local races, may be 

 doubtful. In their distribution blackcock are therefore very similar to. 

 capercaillie, although ranging farther south ; and the affinity between 



BLACKCOCK (ON RIGHT) AND GREYHEN (ON LEFT) 



