138 THE WOOD GROUSE OR CAPERCAILZIE. 



neck, back and sides, are, when minutely observed, 

 delicately varied with brown, grey, and black. The 

 lower part of the breast and belly are black, gene- 

 rally interspersed with a few white feathers, and the 

 forepart of the breast is of a rich glossy green, the 

 feathers thick and compact, and when seen in some 

 lights, emit a very brilliant lustre of golden green 

 and blue, whence the old appellation of " peacock 

 of the woods." The female is considerably less, 

 bearing even more disproportion in size than many 

 of the others ; the colours of the plumage disposed 

 in crescent markings of black upon a ground of rich 

 brown. For the first autumn, the young males are 

 nearly similar to the females, the brown tint being 

 rather deeper ; but before the ensuing spring, they 

 receive the greater part of their adult plumage. 



The wood grouse is extremely shy, and in Ger- 

 many he is reckoned an excellent hunter who can 

 say that he has killed twenty or thirty males. Tem- 

 minck mentions one person particularly celebrated, 

 who had shot fifty. They can only be approached 

 during the time when the male calls the hens around 

 him, and even the greatest delicacy and caution of 

 approach is necessary. They are reckoned royal 

 game, and the female is prohibited, under a severe 

 penalty, to be shot.* The great numbers, however, 

 of indiscriminate sexes which are brought to Lon- 

 don, shew that this prohibition is not everywhere 

 attended to, and that the approach of the males is 

 * Temminck. 



