RED GROUSE 



GOR-COCK MOOR-COCK MOOR-FOWL MUIR-FOWL. 



PLATE CXL. 



Lagopus scottcus, LATHAM. 



Tetrao scoticus^ SEEBOHM. 



THE Red Grouse pairs early in the spring, eggs being 

 often found in sheltered ground as early as March. 

 A nest with fifteen eggs was found on the 25th of March, 

 1835, on Shap Fell, Westmoreland. The female usually 

 begins to lay in March or April ; she sits very close, and 

 may be even taken off her eggs. 



The nest, which is made in a depression in the ground 

 usually under the shelter of a tuft of heather, is very scanty ; 

 it is made of twigs of heather and grass, with occasionally 

 a few of the bird's own feathers. 



The eggs are usually eight to ten or even more in 

 number, of different shades of ground colour reddish white, 

 brownish yellow, yellowish grey, or yellowish white, thickly 

 clouded, blotted, and dotted with rich red or brown : they 

 are of a regular oval form. 



While the young are hatching, the hen utters an occa- 

 sional chuckle. The Heath Poults leave the nest shortly 



