46 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



the love notes, or "spel," and charmed by the grotesque attitudes assumed by the 

 cocks. The "spel" or song consists of two very distinct notes, one a kind of coo, 

 the other a hiss, both so loudly uttered that they may be heard for a mile or more 

 across the silent wilderness. During the progress of the "lek " the females creep 

 up to the place with drooping wings, uttering a low note and apparently watching 

 the proceedings with great interest, waiting to pair with the most successful males. 

 A second "spel" is said to take place in autumn, and during this period the cocks 

 keep in companies by themselves. The female takes all charge of the domestic 

 arrangements. About the first week in May the Grey Hen goes to nest. This is 

 always placed on the ground, under a clump of dead bracken or matted bramble 

 and fern, or amongst heather or ling, rushes, or bilberry wires. It is merely a 

 hollow into which is scraped a few bits of dry grass, broken fern-fronds, or dead 

 leaves of the bilberry, and fallen pine-needles. The eggs, from six to ten in 

 number, are brownish-buff, spotted and blotched with reddish-brown of various 

 shades of intensity. They measure on an average 2'0 inches in length, by 1'4 inch 

 in breadth. Occasionally a single nest will contain as many as sixteen eggs, the 

 produce of two hens which sit together amicably enough and bring up the 

 numerous progeny in company. This usually occurs in localities where the Black 

 Grouse are thick upon the ground. The Grey Hen is a close sitter, and her 

 plumage is remarkably inconspicuous amongst the dead fern and undergrowth. 

 Incubation lasts about twenty-six days. One brood only is reared in the season. 

 The young are reared with difficulty, wet seasons being especially fatal to them ; 

 and many nests are washed away by being made too near the bank of some 

 mountain stream, which rapidly becomes a torrent and overflows its banks during 

 long-continued rain. 



Diagnostic characters Tetrao, with the tail lyre shaped (male), and 

 the wing 11 inches in length or less. Length, 22 inches (male), 15 inches (female). 

 The Black Cock hybridises with the female Ecd Grouse occasionally, and has been 

 known to interbreed with Willow Grouse, Hazel Grouse, the hen Capercaillie, 

 and the Pheasant. Mr. J. G. Millais figures an interesting example of a Black 

 Cock which has assumed the dress of the Grey Hen. (Game Birds and Shooting 

 Sketches.) 



