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XXII. 



BLACK GAME. 

 (Tetrao tetrix.} 



EIGHT days after the beginning of Grouse shooting, 

 that is to say, on the 2Oth of August, the Black Game 

 season commences. Although the Black Grouse is not 

 nearly so well-known as its congener, it is a bird that 

 affords no small amount of sport after the first rush of 

 Red Grouse shooting is over, and before the Pheasant 

 season begins. Most people know the handsome Black- 

 cock, almost uniform steel-black in colour, with lyre- 

 shaped tail ; but the " Gray hen " is a very unobtrusive 

 bird, mottled brown of different shades. It is found in 

 England and Scotland wherever the country is suited to 

 its requirements, and throughout the pine and birch 

 forests of Europe and Siberia, almost as far east as the 

 Pacific Ocean. It was exterminated in many parts of 

 England, but in some districts it has been successfully 

 re-introduced. Curiously enough, it is not found in 

 Ireland, and all the attempts to acclimatize it there have 

 turned out failures. The Black Grouse is a bird that 



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