56 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



The Committee has been to some extent more fortunate, 

 and has obtained a great many skins of hens in the summer 

 plumage, so that points of resemblance can be noted at sight, 

 and individual variations perforce take their proper places. 

 It has been a marked feature in the whole collection of six 

 hundred skins that as the series grew, and the general uniformity 

 became more marked, the individual variations which were so 

 noticeable at first, became gradually relegated to their sub- 

 ordinate position. 



Uniformity, albeit with endless minor variations, is the rule 

 in the Grouse as it is in every other creature that leads an 

 unprotected existence under natural conditions. How long it 

 will continue in the protected, often over-protected, Grouse 

 remains to be seen. It is possible that such variation as already 

 occurs is to some extent a modern development ; but on this point 

 there is at present insufficient evidence to amount to certainty. 



Beginning once more with January, it may be said that in 

 this month some hens, when examined on the under side, are 

 hardly distinguishable by their plumage from some cocks 

 (PL vii.). On the back it is different, and a healthy 

 hen in January is unmistakable owing to the terminal spots 

 of buff which appear almost invariably, though occasionally 

 in limited numbers, on the feathers of the back. In some 

 healthy hens the chin is sometimes still pale buff in colour, 

 owing to the persistence of summer-plumage feathers of the 

 preceding year. The throat and fore-neck, on the other hand, 

 are copper-red, but rarely so uniformly red as in the cock 

 (PL ii.). The copper - red feathers seem to begin on the 

 fore - neck and proceed towards the chin, so that the chin 

 often remains buff and black when the throat is already red. 

 Except in very backward birds, which have been sick, the old 

 and faded broad-barred feathers of the flanks are never found 

 in January. The legs and feet are white and thickly feathered, 

 and the claws are long and strong. 



In February the bird is still in the same plumage as in 

 January. In a few forward birds the feathers of the summer 



