90 RED GROUSE. 



toes completely covered with hair-like feathers, 



sometimes covering the claws, which are long, 



straight, and somewhat flattened. 

 Types, L. Scoticus mutus, &c. Europe, northern 



parts of North America. The Arctic Circle. 

 Note. Monogamous; gregarious in winter; habits 



entirely terrestrial. 



THE RED GROUSE or RED PTARMIGAN, LAGOPUS 

 SCOTICUS, Fieillot. Tetrao Scoticus, Linn., Penn., 

 etc. Tetras rouge, Temm. Moor/owl or Red 

 Grouse of British authors. The Red Grouse, or 

 Moorfowl, has peculiar claims on the naturalists and 

 sportsmen of Britain, as being an insulated species, 

 hitherto undiscovered except in moorland districts 

 of Great Britain and Ireland. Those birds which, 

 in other parts of Northern Europe, resemble it in 

 the colouring of the plumage of summer, differ from 

 it in several particulars, considered of sufficient im- 

 portance to constitute distinct species. 



The Red Grouse is still plentiful in Scotland and 

 England, but is now more sparingly spread over the 

 southern districts of the former ; upon the moors it 

 is well known that not a tenth of the former number 

 of birds at present exist, and it is only in the more 

 remote districts, where access and accommodation 

 for sportsmen are still in some degree wanting, that 

 they are to be seen in any thing like their former 

 numbers. 



The habits of the birds have considerably changed. 



