CLASSIFICATION AND LIFE HISTORY 3 



Grouse of the north of Europe, Asia, and America (L. albus), 

 and the British bird (L. scoticus) with which alone we are 

 concerned indigenous in no other country. 



All the forms of the genus Lagopus are anatomically identi- 

 cal, but the Red Grouse differs from the remaining members 

 in that it does not turn white in winter. It has been thought 

 to be merely the British representative of the Willow Grouse, 

 though it differs from that species even in its summer 

 plumage, and never possesses white wing - quills. It varies 

 considerably in coloration, as will be seen from the following Plumage. 

 quotation from " The Cambridge Natural History." " The 

 male in both summer and winter is more or less chestnut-brown 

 above, with black markings and a reddish head ; the lower 

 parts are similar, but are usually spotted with white. In 

 autumn the brown of the upper parts becomes buff and the 

 lower surface is barred with buff and black. Mr Ogilvie- 

 Grant recognises three types of plumage in the male, a red 

 form with no white spots from Ireland and Western Scotland, 

 a blackish variety comparatively rarely found, and another 

 largely spotted with white below or even above. Intermediate 

 specimens constitute the bulk of our birds. The female exhibits, 

 moreover, a buff-spotted and a buff -barred form, but in summer 

 she is typically black above with concentric buff markings, 

 and buff below with black bars. Her autumn plumage, which 

 continues throughout the winter, is black, spotted with buff 

 and barred with rufous." l Mr Ogilvie - Grant has recently 

 published in the " Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club " 2 

 an elaborate account of the changes of plumage undergone by 

 the Red Grouse, and of the points wherein he differs* from Mr 

 Millais and Mr Wilson ; but this is not the place to enter into 

 controversial matters, and our readers must form their own 

 opinions on the subject. 3 Various reasons have been suggested 

 for the absence of a white winter plumage in the British bird ; 



1 "Cambridge Natural History/' vol. ix., Birds, p. 338. Cambridge, 1899. 



2 "British Ornithologists' Club," vol. xxii. p. 122. London, 1910. 

 8 Vide also chap. ii. pp. 42 et seq. 



