BLACK GROUSE. 135 



BLACK GROUSE. 



BLACK GAME. BLACK COCK. 



PLATE CXXXIX. 



Tetrao tetrix, PENNANT. MONTAGU. 



Urogallus minor, RAY. WiLLUGHBY 



r 1 1HE nest is placed not far from water, or in a marshy 

 spot, among heath, or in newly-made plantations, 

 and sometimes in hedgerows, generally under the 

 shelter of some low bush, or among high grass in some 

 hollow, and is composed inartificially, but rather neatly, 

 of grass and a few twigs laid together. 



In the 'British Game Birds and Wildfowl,' by my 

 brother, Beverley R. Morris, Esq., he says, speaking 

 of the time after the hen birds have commenced sitting, 

 'They are deserted by the cock birds, who again 

 assemble in small parties, and seek the secluded and 

 quiet thickets, among which they chiefly remain till 

 they have completed their moult. They are, during 

 this seclusion, particularly timid and shy. The female 

 has thus the whole charge of hatching and bringing 



up the young birds The packs of male birds are 



sometimes very numerous, often amounting to from 

 fifty to seventy birds. The females also in autumn are 

 occasionally found in packs, but in much smaller num- 

 bers, generally under twenty.' 



