64 SHOOTING. 



the Earl of Breadalbane, spared neitlier money nor care to have 

 them reared in this country. But the success attendant on their 

 anxiety has not been great. 



THE BLACK GEOUSE. 



The Black Grouse {Tetrao Tefrix, Linn.) is a noble looking bird, 

 it is commonly designated the Blackcock, and the female the Gray- 

 hen. The male bii'd is from one foot ten inches to two feet in 

 length; and we have seen two or three specimens which have 

 exceeded this by three inches. The breadjfch is about tAvo feet 

 nine inches. The ordinary weight is nearly four pounds ; but some 

 stray birds in the moors of Cumberland, have gone beyond this by 

 half a pomid and more. The bill is of dusky black, the eyes dark 

 blue, below each eye there is a spot of a dingy white colour, and 

 above the larger, one of a bright scarlet. The plumage of the 

 whole bird is very imposing. It is black, very glossy over the neck 

 and rump, tinged with a shining blue colour. The coverts of the 

 wings are a sort of dull brown, the greater are. white, which rmi 

 along to the ridge of the Avings, forming a spot of that colour upon 

 the shoulder when the wing is closed. The quiUs are brown ; the 

 lower parts and tips of the secondary ones are white, forming a bar 

 of white across the wing. There is likewise a spot of white upon 

 the bastard wing. The legs and tliighs are tolerably thickly 

 covered with dark brown, mottled with white feathers. The toes 

 are toothed on the edges like those of the capercaUie. The tail is 

 much forked, and consists of sixteen black feathers ; the end of the 

 outer feather, which curves outwardly, seems as if separated or cut 

 off. The feathers under the tail, and the inner covers of the wings, 

 are of a pure white. The female bird of the black grouse is con- 

 siderably less than the male ; it is only one foot six inches long, 

 and in breadth two feet six inches. Its weight averages about two 

 pounds. As, in the male bird there is a dusky mark beneath the 

 eye. The head and neck are marked alternately with bars or 

 stripes of duU red and black ; and the breast has a du«:ky white and 

 black appearance. The coverts of the wings, the back, and the 

 tail, are of the same colom- as the neck, with the excei)tion of the 

 red being of a deeper hue. The inner webs of the quill feathers 

 are spotted mth black and white. The inner coverts of the wings 

 are white, and there is a white spot on the shoulder of both the 

 male aud female birds. In the latter, the tail is shghtly forked, 

 and it consists of eighteen feathers richly variegated with red and 

 black. Under the tail the feathers are white, marked with a few 

 bars of black and orange. The nest on the groimd is of the most 

 simple and artless kind. The female lays from six to eight eggs, 

 which are of a duU yellowish white coloui', marked with a nimiber 

 of very small ferruginous specks, and towards the smaller end with 

 some blotches of the same hue. They are hatched late in the 



