v PHASIANIDAE 27 
amount of white occurs beneath in both 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- 
cailhe and the Black-Cock is known in North Europe as the 
tackelhahn (7. medius)." 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 autumn, 
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 sight lning being sometimes added. 7’ 
parvirostris (urogalloides) of North-East Siberia, with comparatively 
slender bill and purplish - green head, and 7. hamtschaticus of 
Kamtschatka, are distinguished by their white-tipped scapulars. 
Lyrurus tetriz, the Black Grouse, called according to the sex 
Black Cock or Grey Hen, ranges over Europe 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 Hebrides. The male, re- 
markable for his lyrate tail with its outwardly curved rectrices, is 
black with steel-blue reflexions, exhibiting a ttle brown in parts, 
1 For hybrids of grouse, cf. Meyer, Unser Auer Rackel und Birkwild. Vienna, 
1887 ; and Millais, Game Birds and Shooting Sketches. London, 1892. 
2 Cf. Lloyd, Game Birds of Sweden and Norway, London, 1867; and Millais, op. cit. 
