62 TETRAONID^. 



strayed to the heathy portions of the neighhouring counties 

 of Berkshire and Hampshire on the one side, and to the 

 district of the St. Leonard's and Tilgate Forests in Sussex 

 on the other. In the south-west of Hampshire, however, 

 in the New Forest, they have never hecome extinct : they are 

 found, although sparingly, in Wiltshire, and in suitable 

 localities in Dorsetshire ; becoming tolerably abundant again 

 on the Quantocks and the Brendons in Somersetshire, and 

 numerous where that county joins Devon on the wilds of 

 Exmoor. They are also met with in some parts of South 

 Devon, and, although by no means common, they breed on 

 the eastern moors of Cornwall. In Glamorganshire they 

 became extinct prior to 1820, but they are found in Brecon, 

 Radnorshire and some other Welsh counties ; in Shropshire ; 

 and in Staffordshire, especially about Cannock Chase, they 

 were recently abundant. Rare, if not extinct, in Charnwood 

 Forest in Leicestershire, they still inhabit Sherwood Forest 

 in Nottinghamshire, north of which they are found, — 

 although locally, and in some cases owing to introduction, 

 — in every county in England. An isolated and decreasing 

 colony exists in Norfolk on the wild heathy tracts about 

 Bawsey, Dersingham, Sandringham, and Snettisham ; and as 

 Sir Thomas Browne (temp. Charles II.) says, "I have heard 

 some have been seen about Lynn," it appears probable that 

 the species is indigenous there. In Lincolnshire, according 

 to Mr. Cordeaux, they were introduced some years ago on 

 the wild district near Frodlingham on Trentside. 



In Scotland, although less generally distributed than in 

 former years. Black Grouse are found, more or less abun- 

 dantly, on all the mountainous and hilly districts and on 

 many isolated patches of upland heather and sheep-land. 

 They are plentiful in many of the Inner Hebrides, espe- 

 cially on Mull ; whilst in the northern portion of Islay, 

 although it is bare of cover, they are, according to Mr. 

 Elwes, rapidly increasing.* They have not as yet been 

 successfully introduced in the Orkneys or the Shetland 

 Islands. Thompson considers that there is no satisfactory 



* R. Gray, 'Birds of the West of Scotland,' p. 231. 



