6 THE GROUSE SUBFAMILY 



of a dark chestnut-red, barred with black, somewhat coarsely on the crown, finely over 

 the back and chest. The breast is blackish. At the beginning of June an " eclipse " 

 dress is assumed, to be shed in October, when the remiges and tail feathers are also 

 renewed. The general hue of the " eclipse " dress is black, irregularly barred with 

 golden buff, but the under parts remain unchanged in the " breeding " dress 

 till the autumn moult. The female in her "winter" dress, assumed in August, 

 resembles the male, but may generally be distinguished in that her head and neck 

 are more or less conspicuously barred with black, while in the male such markings 

 are less inconspicuous. The breeding dress of the female, assumed during March 

 and April, and answering to the " eclipse " dress of the male, has the feathers of 

 the upper parts black, on the crown barred and tipped with golden buff, on the hind- 

 neck with an interrupted marginal band of golden buff. The scapulars and inter- 

 scapulars are of a golden buff, with the central area of the feather black and marked 

 by one or more spots or short longitudinal lines of golden yellow, but many of the 

 scapulars have the central black area marked by obliquely transverse bars of golden 

 buff. The feathers of the fore-neck and prepectoral region are margined with 

 golden buff. In some feathers the enclosed black area is marked by one or more 

 longitudinal lines of golden buff, and in others the black area is transformed into 

 black bars on a ground of golden buff. The flank feathers are yellow with broad 

 transverse bars of black. The central area of the breast retains the red feathers of 

 autumn dress. The juvenile dress resembles that of the adult female in her " breed- 

 ing dress," differing therefrom chiefly in that the yellow markings on the back feathers 

 are arranged concentrically ; the f orebreast and flanks are of a golden buff with a 

 subterminal bar of black, and a black bar across the centre of the feathers, while 

 the breast and abdomen have a typically mesoptyle plumage of greyish yellow 

 feathers, barred with dark grey, and showing that the whole plumage is of the 

 mesoptyle generation. The young in down recalls that of the nestling blackcock, 

 having a patch of chestnut on the crown, which is, however, darker in hue, shading 

 into sepia at the periphery. 



Having regard to the great importance attached to the plumage phases of the 

 red-grouse, the following condensed summary has been compiled from notes gener- 

 ously furnished by my colleague, Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant. Briefly he recognises in 

 the male three types : a red, a black, and a white-spotted. (1) The red type. General 

 coloration of a rufous chestnut, wherein white marks on the breast are conspicuous 

 by their absence. Birds so coloured are obtained from the western counties of 

 Scotland, England, and Wales, the Hebrides, and the low grounds of Ireland. 



