GROUSE 391 



Other peculiarities of the Eed Grouse — the excellence of its 

 flesh, and its economic importance, which is perhaps greater than 

 that of any other wild bird in the Avorld — hardly need notice here, 

 and there is not space to dwell upon that dire malady to which it 

 is from time to time subject, primarily induced, in the opinion of 

 many, by the overstocking of its haunts and the propagation of 

 diseased offspring by depauperized parents. ■"• 



turn white differ in that respect from all other groups of the Family Tetraonidse. 

 Furthermore it must be remembered that every species of Lagopus (even L. 

 leiicurus, the whitest of all) has its first set of remiges coloured brown. These 

 are dropped when the bird is about half-grown, and in all the species but L. 

 scoticus white remiges are then produced. If therefore, as is generally held, the 

 successive phases assumed by any individual animal in the course of its progress 

 to maturity indicate the phases through which the species has passed, there may 

 have been a time when all the species of Lagopus wore a brown livery even when 

 adult, and the white dress donned in winter has been imposed upon the wearers 

 by causes that can be easily suggested, for it has been freely admitted by 

 naturalists of all schools that the white plumage of the birds of this group 

 protects them from danger during the snows of a protracted winter. On the 

 other hand, it is not at all inconceivable that the Red Grouse, instead of perpetu- 

 ating directly the more ancient properties of an original Lagopus that underwent 

 no great seasonal change of plumage, may derive its ancestry from the widely- 

 ranging Willow-Grouse, which in an epoch comparatively recent (in the geo- 

 logical sense) may have stocked Britain, and left descendants that, under conditions 

 in which the assumption of a white garb would be almost fatal to the preserva- 

 tion of the species, have reverted though doubtless with some modifications) 

 to a comparative immutability essentially the same as that of the primal 

 Lago2}us. 



That Red Grouse, especially when in full winter-plumage — a fact of import in 

 regard to what has just been said — are subject to greater variability than most 

 species of birds has been proved by Mr. Buckley (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1882, pp. 112- 

 116), and moreover that this variability does not wholly depend on locality as had 

 been frequently surmised, for he found that birds differing most remarkably from 

 each other occurred on the same ground or were at least near neighbours. 

 Having seen his series of specimens, I can state that he has not exaggerated the 

 variations they present, which are far gi'eater than between those offered by some 

 of the so-called local forms of Lagopus. On the other hand, a general uniformity 

 seems to pervade Irish examples, as a large number submitted to me by Mr. 

 A. G. More shews. Indeed Irish specimens could be picked out by the practised 

 eye almost without fail from their plumage being duller and more snuff-coloured 

 (if the phrase be allowable). This hue is occasionally seen in English birds, but 

 not to my knowledge in Scottish, though I should not be surprised if it were to 

 occur. Whether the fact, as I take it to be, can be correlated with the more 

 equable climate which the sister-island enjoys, I do not pretend to say, but the 

 consideration seems worthy of attention. Several varieties and hybrids are figured 

 in Mr. Millais's Gaine Birds and Shooting Sketches (London : 1892). 



1 On the Grouse- disease the papers of Prof. Young in Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. 

 Glasgow, i. p. 225, and Dr. Farquharson, Edinb. Med. Journal, N"o. 263, p. 222, 

 may be consulted ; but especially Dr. Klein's Reports in The Field (23 July 1887 

 and 15 June 1889, and his work on the subject (London : 1892). 



