32 THE GROUSE SUBFAMILY 



courting, in Iceland and in Scotland. From this we gather that the 

 general trend of events at this time closely resembles what obtains 

 among the Grouse. The males fight after the same fashion, and seek 

 to attract the females by suddenly flying up and alighting, uttering the 

 while loud croaks. These displays begin sometimes before the dawn, 

 and last till about 10 A.M., to be resumed, in a more restrained 

 fashion, as the shadows fall at evening. 



As touching the usages which prevail with the birds now under 

 discussion, in the matter of the care of the young, much has been 

 written ; though in a great measure the various writers have but 

 recorded the same facts. 



This phrase "care of the young" must be allowed to cover the 

 period of the preparation of the nest and the methods adopted for 

 safe-guarding and brooding the eggs. Weather factors play an im- 

 portant part in governing the commencement of the nesting opera- 

 tions. Thus the capercaillie begins to lay in May, but on the higher 

 ground not till June. The blackcock begins in April. Grouse eggs 

 have been recorded in February, but the end of April to the middle 

 of May must be regarded as the normal laying period, and even at 

 this later date blizzards may destroy the eggs, as for instance in 1896, 

 when so late as the third week in that month birds were frozen to 

 death on their nests. Mr. Seton Gordon cites a case l where a full 

 clutch had been laid but brooding had not begun when the storm 

 swept over the land, covering the eggs deep in snow. More than a 

 week later they were again exposed and successfully hatched out! 

 Thus the conditions of existence seem to have conferred on the eggs 

 of the Grouse a considerable power of resistance to cold. In other 

 words, we see here selection at work on the unborn young rather than 

 on the parents, since all embryos unable to resist a considerable 

 degree of cold have been eliminated. The ptarmigan, as we would 

 suppose, do not begin to lay till the end of May, and consequently 

 brooding does not commence till June is nigh at hand. 



1 Birds of Loch and Mountain, p. 57. 



