86 BLACK GROUSE. 



abounding with a rank and luxuriant herbage, and 

 where the glades and passes among the hills are 

 clothed with natural brushwood of birch and hazel, 

 willow and alder, and have a tangled bottom of 

 deep fern. These afford an abundant supply of 

 food, with shelter from the cold at night, and the 

 scorching rays of a midsummer sun. 



The Black Cock is polygamous. In the warmer 

 sunny days, at the conclusion of winter, and com- 

 mencement of spring, the males, after feeding, may 

 be seen arranged on some turf fence, rail, or sheep- 

 fold, pluming their wings, expanding their tails, 

 and practising, as it were, their love-call. If the 

 weather now continues warm, the flocks soon se- 

 parate, and the males select some conspicuous spots, 

 from whence they endeavour to drive all rivals, 

 and commence to display their arts to allure the 

 females. The places selected at such seasons are 

 generally elevations, the turf enclosure of a former 

 sheep-fold, which has been disused, and is now 

 grown over, or some of those beautiful spots of 

 fresh and grassy pasture which are well known to 

 the inhabitants of a pastoral district. Here, after 

 perhaps many battles have been fought and rivals 

 vanquished, the noble full dressed Black Cock 

 takes his stand, commencing at the first dawn of 

 day, and where the game is abundant, the hill on 

 every side repeats the humming call; they strut 

 around the spots selected, trailing their wings, in- 

 flating the throat and neck, and puffing up the 

 plumage of these parts and the now brilliant wattle 



