BLACK GROUSE. 437 
is just before daybreak. A warm glow lights up the eastern heavens, and 
the light breezes of early morning rustle through the pine-branches ; sur- 
rounding objects are becoming more distinct every moment; and the few 
early notes of the Stormcock from the neighbouring copse, and the cry of 
a noisy Blackbird fresh from its roosting-place in the hollies, tell you that 
morning is at hand. See, the Curlews are astir, and the Lapwings are 
just waking up from the rough fallows. But your musings are broken by 
the flapping noise of pinions and the approach of a dark heavy bird. It is 
a Blackcock coming to the pairing-station, ready to fight for and win his 
brides. A handsome fellow he is, and his rich glossy plumage shines 
with a healthy lustre in the dim morning light. He looks round a moment, 
as if half-conscious of your presence, and then busies himself with his own 
affairs. Drawing himself up to his full height he struts proudly about, now 
trailing his wings, and ever and anon erecting and spreading his broad fan- 
like tail, all the time incessantly uttering his peculiar love-song. Now he 
springs into the air, turning halfway round as he descends, then crouches to 
the ground, swells out his throat, and in a dozen different ways ‘strives to 
display his charms or give challenge to a rival. But your attention is 
soon called away from him, for shortly another cock bird makes his 
appearance. Another and another speedily arrive, and all are soon engaged 
in the same strange antics; and, see, there are several females, too, much 
less conspicuous in their brown plumage. Nowtwo males will meet in this 
strange arena and a combat occurs, the birds fighting with as much zest 
as a couple of Bantam cocks, and in much the same manner, the feathers 
falling quickly as the battle gains in fierceness. The females are getting 
more interested every moment, ready to bestow their affections on the 
victorious males, and run to and fro with drooping wings, occasionally 
uttering their call-note. And so these combats proceed until all the 
brides are won, when the strife ceases, and the birds retire to seek their 
morning meal, but again assemble in the evening, and not unfrequently 
in the middle of the day as well. Throughout the laying-season the 
Blackeock is a noisy and pugnacious creature; and once the full comple- 
ment of eggs is deposited by the female, he quits her society probably 
for ever, leaving her to hatch and rear her brood unaided.” 
Eges of the Blackcock are rarely found before the begining of May. 
The site of the nest is varied, but generally well and artfully concealed. 
It may be where a pine tree or a larch has been snapped off by a winter 
storm, and its branches covered with a luxuriant growth of bracken and 
brambles, or it may be under a dense briar or bramble, or not unfrequently 
under a thick mass of heather andfern. Very little nest is made—a hollow 
is scratched out and lined with a few bits of herbage, fern-fronds, scraps 
of heath, or bracken-stems. In this rudely formed nest the Greyhen (a 
name by which the female is technically known) deposits from six to ten 
