LOCAL VARIATION IN PLUMAGE OF GROUSE 



55 



fine broken black cross-lines, while these cross-lines are sometimes 

 almost absent. 

 (3.) This gradual change from north to south of black, or red and black tO' 

 dark red cocks, and farther south to bright red cocks is accom- 

 panied (speaking very broadly, for there are many exceptions) by 

 a loss of the white terminal borders which characterise the feathers 

 of the abdomen. 



There is no doubt that the blacker birds of the Highlands of the north 

 of Scotland are more frequently white spotted beneath than the birds obtained 



