12 THE GROUSE SUBFAMILY 



THE GROUSE SUBFAMILY 

 [W. P. PYCRAFT] 



Of the birds which come under this heading we know more, as 

 regards their life-history, perhaps, than of any other of our native avi- 

 fauna, though, curiously enough, much that would be supposed to be 

 common knowledge among sportsmen is yet known only to a relative 

 few, whose interest in their coverts does not begin and end with the 

 shooting season. To them we look for aid in revising what has 

 already been recorded, and in filling the many gaps in our knowledge, 

 more especially of what takes place during that period which falls 

 within the "close season." And what takes place during this time 

 can only be discerned by the most careful and laborious observation. 



Few birds display a greater power of adaptability to environment. 

 For save that none have become aquatic, there are few places on the 

 earth's surface where, in one guise or another, they do not thrive : 

 they are at home alike on the burning desert, in the jungle and the 

 gloomy forest, or amid the snow-covered heights of the mountains. 

 Yet whatever may be their climatic environment, the nature of their 

 covering is the same. That is to say, those which live, for the most 

 part of the year at any rate, amid the snows are clad no more thickly 

 than those which live where snow can never fall, for no game-bird 

 ever develops an under-covering of down feathers, though ptarmigan 

 and willow-grouse have feathered legs and toes ; but so also do many 

 birds which, so far as we can see, have no need of such investments. 



In all that concerns the continuation of the species they display 

 every possible difference. For while some are monogamous, more are 

 polygamous. None, however, lay double-spotted eggs, and all have 

 precocious longitudinally striped young. These afford a striking 

 contrast with the precocious young of, say, the Anatidse. And this 



