104 GAME BIRDS AND SHOOTING-SKETCHES 



plete by the beginning of October, in 25oint of colouring, 

 tliougli it is not until the third season that it really 

 becomes quite perfect, and the tail, the Ijird's chief adorn- 

 ment, has attained its complete length and graceful 

 curves. The young males of the first year can easily 

 be recognised during the winter by the brown ribbings 

 on the crown of the head and white markinos on the 



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throat, as well as by the incomplete shape of the tail. 



Blackgame, like the rest of the Tetraonid^e, have the 

 two kinds of plumage, the dark and the light — specimens 

 of cocks varying from brilliantly marked forms to others 

 wdiich appear almost entirely black and which show 

 hardly any of the bronze -blue on the neck and back. 

 In these very dark birds the tendency to melanism 

 generally shows itself l)y the white feathers covering 

 the vent being ril;)l:)ed more or less broadly with 

 black. (Jne killed by John Sutherland, Lord Cawdor's 

 keeper, had thick black l)ars across every feather under 

 the tail. 



The number of species with which Blackgame have 

 been known to interbreed is larger than that of any other 

 game bird. These hybrids are of very rare occurrence, 

 and, with the exception of the cross with the Capercaillie, 

 are not likely to be met with by sportsmen. The other 

 kinds with which they have been known to l)reed are 

 Grouse, Pheasant, Bantam, and Common Fowl. In 

 Sweden it also crosses occasionally with the "Ripa" 

 or Willow-Grouse, of which there is a good specimen 

 in the Dublin Museum. The hylnid with the Pheasant 

 is by far the most beautiful and interesting ; and the 

 specimen belonging to Mrs, Hunter, of Glen App, A}-r- 



