PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 11 



n 



nine days longer than that of the red-grouse. Naumann gives it as three weeks, but 

 not from personal observation, and it is probably on account of the greater cold at 

 higher elevations that it differs from that of the red-grouse. In Scotland laying 

 begins about 20th May, and the clutches are complete about the beginning of June. 

 When the first layings are destroyed by heavy snowfalls or by vermin, eggs may be 

 found late in June or in July, but only one brood is reared during the season. 

 [F. c. R. j.] 



5. Food. The shoots and fruits of Alpine plants, especially of blaeberry, 

 blackbear - berry, and small red cranberry ; these form the staple diet. Small 

 plant leaves and lichens, especially of the " reindeer-moss," Cladonia rangiferina. 

 The young feed on young grass shoots and blaeberry leaves broken up by the 

 parents, and are accompanied in the search for food by both parents, [w. p. p.] 



