BLACKGAME 79 



which he certainly does hurry up a bit and travels in 

 a fairly business-like manner. 



In the spring evenings the Blackcocks again return 

 to fight and make love to their hens as in the morning. 

 But fewer birds come, as a rule, and there is not the 

 same zest and go about the show as in the early morning, 

 and the birds, like all moving creatures, are not so 

 " beany " in the evening, when about to retire to roost, 

 as at the beginning of the day.^ 



By the middle of May the nest is formed of loose dry 

 grass, and in it the Crreyhen deposits her eight to ten 

 eggs, the first broods being seen about the beginning of 

 June. The young closely resemble those of the foregoing- 

 species in appearance and in point of delicacy, but the 

 percentage of l)irds raised from the eggs is far greater. 

 It is common to see seven or eight chicks with their 

 mother, whereas a Capercaillie hen seldom raises to 

 maturity more than two or three of her brood. Unfor- 

 tunately, their extraordinary tameness costs many young 

 Blackgame their lives. In districts where they are at 

 all plentiful, the man who wishes to make a bag will have 

 it all his own way, beginning with the mother and 

 gradually working through the entire family. There 

 can l)e no sport in picking ujd these unfortunates from 

 beneath the doo-s' noses, for a man has nothins; to be 

 proud of if he kills them all, and everything to be 

 ashamed of should he miss any of them. Good 



1 I trust I shall not have wearied the reader's patience by the some- 

 what lengthened account of the proceedings at the Playing-grounds. Not 

 having read a detailed account of thein in any work, I have felt justified in 

 writing at some length, as the chief object in this work is to put before the 

 reader facts of interest that have not been threshed out elsewhere. 



