GROUSE 147 



dispelled when lie went to pick up his much-coveted 

 treasure. Alas ! for the vanity of human hopes and 

 judgment, his albino had nothing but a patch of frozen 

 snow adhering to its back, and its feathers were the same 

 as those of any other Grouse. 



The only species with which Grouse may be said to 

 interbreed in a wild state are the Blackgame. These 

 hybrids, notwithstanding the close association and similarity 

 in size and habits of the two species, are of very rare 

 occurrence. They are singularly plain and uninteresting- 

 looking creatures, and the bird from which the illustration 

 on page 68 is taken is the only one out of twenty that 

 I have seen which may be said to have any pretensions to 

 good looks. Most of them are dull and sombre birds, 

 being nearly black all over, with the tail S(|uare and the 

 two end feathers on each side considerably elongated, 

 but without any indication of the outward curve which 

 makes the Blackcock's tail so graceful ; but the Glen 

 Mazeran specimen is decidedly a handsome bird, and 

 shows well in its plumage the characteristics of the two 

 species. 



A most extraordinary hybrid is that of the Grouse and 

 Bantam Fowl. The example figured, and another which 

 is in the possession of Mr. A. G. More in Dublin, are, I 

 fancy, the only instances of this curious cross known. My 

 bird, which I obtained from Father Eyan, Tipperary, was 

 the only surviving one of a Ijrood, the father of which was 

 a Bantam cock and the mother a Grouse hen. The latter 

 laid several clutches of eggs, but none of these proved 

 fertile except her last sitting, and all of these died in 

 infancy but this liird, which continued to thrive from the 



