43.4 BRITISH BIRDS. 
long tapeworm in the intestines; but he did not detect the smaller para- 
sitic worm. 
The Red Grouse has often been kept in confinement, and has even been | 
known to breed under such conditions. Hybrids between the present 
species and other game birds are extremely rare. It has been known to 
interbreed with the Black Grouse, and possibly with the Ptarmigan. 
The general colour of the adult male Red Grouse in spring plumage is 
chestnut-brown, most of the feathers being barred, vermiculated, and 
speckled with black. There are obscure indications of a moustachial 
stripe ; the axillaries and under wing-coverts are nearly white; and the 
feathers on the belly, legs, and feet are greyish white. Bill and claws 
brownish black; irides hazel; over each eye is a brilliant scarlet wattle. 
In the female the chestnut-brown is replaced by buffish brown, and the 
wattles over the eye are much smaller and duller in colour. The autumn 
plumage scarcely differs from that of summer; but birds of the year may 
be distinguished by the pale tips to most of the feathers, causing them to 
appear much more distinctly spotted. Young in down are buffish yellow 
mottled with chestnut- brown. 
There is considerable individual variation in the colour of the plumage 
in this species; and many writers have endeavoured to show that this 
variation is local; but the balance of evidence in this, as in many other 
similar cases, is in favour of the supposition that we are dealing with 
climatic and not geographical races. 
