RED GROUSE. 365 



Tetrao Scoticus, Bed Ptarmigan, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 170. 



Lagopus Grouse, GOULD, Birds of Europe. 



Tetrao Tetras rouge, TEMM. Man. d'Ornith. vol. ii. p. 465. 



LAGOPUS. Generic Characters. Bill very short, clothed at the base 

 with feathers ; the upper mandible convex, and bent down at the point. 

 Nostrils basal, lateral, partly closed by an arched membrane, and nearly 

 hidden by the small closely-set feathers at the base of the bill. Eyebrows 

 naked, as in the genus Tetrao. Wings short, concave, with the third and 

 fourth feathers the longest. Tail generally square at the end. Tarsi and 

 toes completely feathered ; hind toe very short, and barely touching the 

 ground with the tip of the nail. Nails long, and nearly straight. 



THIS handsome species ought to have been named 

 tannicus, rather than Scoticus, since it is found in the north 

 of England, in Wales, and in Ireland, as well as in Scot- 

 land, in the Hebrides, and in the Orkneys, but not in any 

 part of the world except the British Islands. The Red 

 Grouse and the Ptarmigan differ from the two species of 

 Grouse already described here, in pairing constantly, in 

 having the toes feathered down to the roots of the claws, 

 in having also a double moult, and neither of them are 

 seen to perch on trees ; I have therefore followed the ex- 

 ample of M. Vieillot and others in considering them so 

 far removed from the genus Tetrao as to be entitled to a 

 separate generic distinction. 



The Red Grouse are inhabitants of wild and extensive 

 heaths and moors. It is well known to be especially abun- 

 dant in Scotland ; and Mr. Macgillivray says that the 

 " low sandy heaths of the eastern counties of the middle 

 division appear to be less favourable to it than the more 

 moist peaty tracts of the western and northern districts, 

 where the shrubs on which it feeds attain a greater size. 

 In the central and desolate regions of the Grampians it is 

 equally abundant, as on the moors of the Hebrides ; and 

 on the hilly ranges of the south, the Pentlands, the Lam- 

 mermuir, and the mountains of Peebles, Dumfries, and 

 Selkirk, it is still plentiful." 



