THE CHANGES OF PLUMAGE IN RED GROUSE 47 



whereas in the other bird they are hardly free of the scaly 

 sheaths in which they grew, and are really precocious feathers 

 of the coming winter plumage. 



In each sex the general change from winter to summer 

 may be described as a change from a more richly-pigmented, 

 darker, black and chestnut, or rufous-chestnut plumage with 

 rather fine transverse black markings, to a less richly-pigmented, 

 paler, buff or rufous-buff or tawny-buff plumage with character- 

 istically broad black bars and transverse markings. 1 



In each sex, moreover, the characteristic buff and black 

 broad - banded summer plumage in its special appearance on 

 the dorsal aspect is given by the growth of feathers with large 

 black centres and a few buff or tawny -buff subterminal 

 bars of considerable width, and a terminal border or spot of 

 the palest buff, which is a very conspicuous feature on the 

 back of most hens, and often little less conspicuous in the cock. 

 In the cock, however, this plumage appears just two months 

 later, and is less beautifully developed than in the hen. 2 



There is without doubt a general broad resemblance, firstly 

 between the cock and the hen Grouse when the former is in its 

 " winter plumage " and the latter in its " autumn plumage " ; 

 and, secondly, between the cock and the hen Grouse when the 

 former is in its " autumn plumage " and the latter in its " spring 

 plumage." 



The perplexing fact is that these general resemblances are 

 not synchronous in the two sexes, for there is an interval of 

 two months between the moult of the cock and hen. 



Beginning now with the cock Red Grouse in January, and Cock 

 looking at the breast first, the uniformity of the series is a very January, 

 conspicuous feature. Every healthy bird is chestnut or rufous- 

 chestnut and black, with fine, almost vermiculate black cross- 

 lines over it. 



Even in the blackest birds the throat and fore-neck are 

 always of a rich copper-red colour, with very little or no black 

 edging at the borders of the feathers, which are usually barred 



1 Set Plates II. to v. and vn. to x. 2 See Plate i. (Frontispiece). 



