THE GROUSE TRIBE AND ALTITUDE. 399 



forest country, we have a succession of varieties of 

 birds of this family, which occupy separate belts ex- 

 tending from the lowlands to the region of eternal 

 snow. First on the meadow lands and cornfields of 

 the plain, the partridge (represented in Great Britain 

 by the Perdix Cinerea (or grey partridge) ; then follow 

 the tree perching varieties of grouse, inhabiting the 

 forest lands; with the moorland and snow varieties 

 extending beyond them again, either on the barren 

 hill tops or northwards, beyond the region of tree 

 growth the last-named ascending', we cannot doubt, 

 to the very pole itself, if there is (as we have every 

 .reason to suppose is likely) land in those far northern 

 wastes. * 



The moorland varieties are well known to the British 

 sportsman, we need not therefore describe them here ; 

 but the forest grouse no longer exist in the British 

 Islands; they therefore deserve a short description. 

 They are found all over Northern Europe and Asia 

 and are annually imported from Russia and elsewhere, 

 in large numbers to supply the English markets : where 

 they may be seen during winter and spring, hanging 

 in rows in our poulterers ' shops. They consist for the 

 most part of the four varieties already named. First, the 

 hazel grouse which inhabits the pine forests, where 

 the bilberry ( Vaccinum Myrtillus^mn.} and other berry- 

 bearing undergrowths occur, and when young these 

 birds are delicious for table use. Secondly, the wood or 

 willow grouse, a somewhat larger bird than* the pre- 

 ceding, which keeps mostly to the birch woods, and 

 rarely resorts to the heavy pine forest. This birch forest 

 in Lapland and elsewhere, generally skirts the northern 



* See our section on the Arctic Zone. 



