PIIASIANIDAE 237 



amount of white occurs beneath in l)oth sexes. The brown hair- 

 like feathers on the legs are longest in winter, a fact true also in 

 the Ptarmigan and elsewhere. A cross between the hen Caper- 

 caillie and the Black-Coek is known,fin North Europe as the 

 Rackelhahn ( T. medins)} The " lek " or " spel," as the love- 

 performance is called, has been described in detail by many 

 authors ; '^ it takes place in spring, and occasionally in antumn, 

 when the excited male struts with drooping wings and erect out- 

 spread tail before the assembled females, uttering curious noisy 

 cries, to which they reply with softer plaintive notes. He is said 

 to be deaf during the " play." At times he takes up a position on 

 some lofty bough with the evident intention of challenging his 

 rivals, who quickly respond to the provocation ; ere long they join 

 in combat upon the ground, leaping and rushing upon one another 

 in their blind rage, and using bills, wings, and claws as weapons 

 of offence. The flight of the Capercaillie is heavy though strong. 

 The food consists chiefly of young pine-shoots, which are apt to 

 give the flesh a flavour of turpentine, but includes berries, insects, 

 and worms. About a. dozen yellowish-white eggs, freckled with 

 dull orange, are deposited in a hole scraped for the purpose near 

 the foot of a tree, a slight lining being sometimes added. T. 

 parvirostris{urogalloides) of North-East Siberia, with comparatively 

 slender bill and purplish - green head, and T. hamtscluiticus of 

 Kamtschatka, are distinguished by their white-tipped scapulars. 



Lyrurus tetrix, the Black Grouse, called according to the sex 

 Black Cock or Grey Hen, ranges over Euroj)e north of the 

 Pyrenees and Apennines, as well as through Northern Asia to the 

 Tian-Shan Mountains and Pekin. It inhabits the wilder moor- 

 lands of the north and west of England, being much less plentiful 

 in the Midlands, and very rare in the east. It has, however, been 

 introduced into Norfolk, and unsuccessfully into Ireland, while it 

 has been restored to Surrey, Sussex, and Berks, and still occurs 

 in Wilts, Dorset, Hants, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. In 

 Scotland it frequents most suitable districts, but does not 

 reach Orkney, Shetland, or the Outer Hebiides. The male, re- 

 markable for his lyrate tail with its outwardly curved rectrices, is 

 Uack with steel-blue reflexions, exhibiting a little brown in parts, 



^ For hybrids of grouse, cf. Meyer, Unser Ancr llackd loid Piirlcvild. Vienna, 

 1887 ; and Millais, Game Birds and Shooting Sketches. London, 1892. 



^ Cf. Lloyd, Game Birds of Sweden and Noricay, London, 1SG7; and Millais, o}). cit. 



