505 



BLACK GROUSE. 

 Tetrao tetrix 



Resident, local, occurring chiefly on the western borders of the 

 county. Has been introduced in several districts. 



In view of the general interest attached to this noble 

 game-bird, it is desirable to give at some length the details 

 concerning its past history and present distribution in the 

 county. There is proof that it was an indigenous, and 

 possibly abundant, species in prehistoric times, in the dis- 

 covery, made by Mr. James Backhouse, of remains of this 

 bird in the Teesdale caves, though the earliest dated allusion 

 to it, so far as can be ascertained, is in the list of Wildfowl 

 supplied to Skipton Castle in the seventeenth century, 1606- 

 1639 (Whitaker's " Craven," 2nd Ed. p. 310) ; it is referred 

 to by Fr. Jessop, one of John Ray's correspondents, who, 

 writing from Broomhall, Sheffield, on 25th November 1668 

 said : " I have stuffed the skin of a Moor Cock and Moor Hen " 

 (" Correspondence of John Ray," 1848, p. 33). Another 

 renowned Yorkshire ornithologist, Marmaduke Tunstall, 

 F.R.S., of Wycliffe-on-Tees, also mentioned it, and his quaint 

 comments are quoted in extenso, conveying, as they do, his 

 opinions on the decrease of the bird in the north of England. 

 His remarks are as follows : 



" (Tetrao tetrix, Lin. & Gm.). Grown very scarce all over 

 the North of England .... for which many probable reasons 

 are given : the principal seem to be the great improvement 

 of late years in the art of shooting flying ; moors and commons 

 taken up ; the hurt sustained by burning the ling in the 

 moors to make the herbage grow, which it is very difficult 

 to prevent, being commonly done by stealth in the night ; 

 when once fired will reach miles : this done in the spring 

 destroys many eggs, and the old ones upon them .... lastly, 

 the facility of carrying them to London and the great trading 

 towns ; and the great demand there for them by flys and 

 machines, and various other causes. 



The whiteness of part of the breast so singularly contrasted 



