BLACK GROUSE. 8? 



above the eyes, raising and expanding the tail, and 

 displaying the beautifully contrasting white under 

 tail-covers ; he is soon heard by the females, who 

 crowd around their lord and master. This season of 

 admiration does not continue long ; the females dis- 

 perse to seek proper situations for depositing their 

 eggs, while the males, losing their feeling for love 

 and fighting, reassemble in small parties, and seek 

 the shelter of the brush and fern beds to complete a 

 new moult, and are seldom seen, except early in the 

 morning or at evening, when they exhibit a degree 

 of timidity, the very reverse of their former boldness 

 and vigilance. The old males continue separate 

 until winter, and afterwards seem to display an in- 

 clination to flock by themselves ; but in many 

 cases they join with the young broods, and all re- 

 sort; morning and evening, to some favourite feeding 

 grounds, spending the middle part of the day in rest, 

 or in basking, pluming, or sporting upon some sunny 

 hill side. Upon the females devolve the whole duties 

 of rearing and protecting the young; the nest is 

 made upon the ground, not far from water, and 

 the young, when hatched, are conveyed to the low 

 rushy hollows, where there is abundance of food, 

 supplied by the tender seeds of the rushes and 

 alpine grasses. The young are seldom full grown 

 before the 1st of September; and even, at this 

 season, if they have been undisturbed previously, 

 they will almost suffer themselves to be lifted from 

 before the pointers. During summer the general 

 food is the seeds of the various grasses, and the 



