THE BLACK-COCK AND GREY-HEN. 7!? 



(lid not sec it there, I learned that it occasionally visited 

 that part of the country. It is scarce in Denmark, and 

 is there confined to certain districts. 



The Black-Cock is too well known to require a minute 

 descrijition. It may, therefore, he sufficient to say that 

 the male and the female, as seen in the accompanying 

 drawing, differ widely in plumage; that of the male, as 

 the name denotes, being black, whilst the female, on 

 the contrary, is dark brown, whence her designation 

 with us of Grey-Hen. The male is also very much 

 larger than the female. 



The idea is very generally entertained in the more 

 northern parts of Norway, that there is a second kind of 

 Black-Cock, grey in colour, and less in size than the com- 

 mon Black-Cock, and which is there called the HaJf-Orre, 

 or half Black-Cock. It is further said that this bird is 

 not unfrequently found amongst the game sent during 

 the winter from the mountainous districts to Drontheim. 

 M. Boie, when in Upper Ilerjeadalen, a portion of Norr- 

 land (the northernmost main division of Sweden) also 

 heard speak of a lesser kind of Black-Cock inhabiting the 

 copse wood on the upper slopes of the Fjalls. 



The sight of the Black-Cock is reputed to be very 

 piercing, and its senses of hearing and seeing exquisite, 

 surpassing those of any of its congeners. Its flight, though 

 somewhat noisy, is lighter than that of the Capercali, and 

 it may often be seen flying both high in the air and to a 

 long distance. Northern ornitholo2:ists tell vis " it is a 

 Avild, shy, and crafty bird." To judge of its proceedings 

 during the pairing season, it is certainly of a most pugna- 

 cious and savage disposition. 



Accidental varieties are not unfrequent amongst these 

 birds. Several males beautifully variegated with white have 

 come under my own observation, and one of them is now 

 in the collection of a friend in this country. 



