74 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



is a fine Irish example from co. Mayo in the British Museum 

 (Natural History), No. 99 12.1.1. 



The fourth or buff-spotted form of hen Grouse, said to be 

 " much the commonest and most usually met with, has the 

 feathers of the upper parts spotted at the tip with whitish 

 buff." l This type is generally distributed, and the Committee's 

 collection includes examples from Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, 

 Perthshire, Ayrshire, Kincardine, Dumfries, Northumberland, 

 Yorkshire, Westmorland, and Lancashire. 



The fifth or buff-barred-form, according to Mr Ogilvie-Grant, 

 " is met with in the south of Ireland, and resembles in winter 

 (autumn plumage) the ordinary female in breeding plumage, 

 having the upper parts coarsely barred with buff and black. 

 Very little is known of this last variety, owing to the difficulty 

 of obtaining birds except during the shooting season." ' The 

 repeated endeavours of the Committee to obtain specimens 

 resulted in one hen only being obtained from Donegal. This 

 bird was a very typical example of the buff-barred type, and it 

 certainly differed from anything procured either in Scotland, 

 England, or Wales. The nearest approach to it was to be found 

 in four hens from Selkirkshire, and in hens from Inverness- 

 shire, which might be more accurately described as buff-barred 

 than as buff-spotted. Single examples from Lanark, Mid- 

 lothian, Roxburgh, Haddington, and Northumberland might 

 be classed in the buff-barred type, and the females from 

 Yorkshire were all rather of the buff-barred type, but none 

 of these birds had quite the same markings as the Irish 

 example. 



Two points in connection with the practical distinction of 

 old Grouse from young, and of cock Grouse from hens, are of 

 perennial interest both to the gamekeeper and to the sportsman. 

 No discussion is more apt to produce different opinions than 

 that which arises upon the age or the sex of Grouse in certain 

 stages of moulting. It must be admitted that there are in- 

 dividual cases in which it is almost impossible to tell the sex 



1 " Handbook to the Game Birds," p. 28. '-' Ibid. 



