148 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



with the impetuosity of his flight " l In the same work Mr 

 Stuart- Wortley writes : "In the pairing season the old warriors 

 come down from the heights, fight with and vanquish the younger 

 ones, and absorb the young hens." Such efforts combine 

 to bring to an end a very large proportion of cock birds which 

 are more or less exhausted after the winter by poor feeding 

 and the loss of strength due to the presence of intestinal 

 parasites. 



Then follows the moult, an exhausting process under the 

 best conditions, and one for which nature generally makes 

 provision by laying in a stock of subcutaneous fat. All this 

 is consumed during the growth of the new feathers. 



But in the case of an ill-conditioned Grouse the moult 

 commences with an insufficient supply of fat from which to 

 draw for the growth of new feathers. The result may be a 

 complete failure to rise to the occasion ; or, if the failure be only 

 partial, the old feathers, but only to some extent, are retained, 

 and the new feathers will come slowly, poorly, and sparsely. 

 Bare legs and a poor-looking mixture of old and faded feathers, 

 with a more richly coloured new one here and there, produce a 

 seedy, chequered-looking bird, and to this must be added an 

 air of exhaustion and malaise. Occasionally in the male the 

 summer change of plumage is not completed even by autumn, 

 and feathers of three different plumages may then be found 

 on a single individual. But as the season advances, and good 

 food becomes more abundant, by degrees the moult is completed 

 in a more or less satisfactory manner. The chief troubles are 

 then over for the cock, and he gradually improves in condition, 

 and is prepared to meet the ensuing winter. 



The lot of the hen is certainly less enviable than that of her 

 mate. She also may have struggled through the winter, and 

 while the cocks fight over her is quickly putting on fat for an 

 early moult. She makes an almost complete change of plumage 

 before laying her eggs in April ; and in this she must consume 



1 Macpherson, Fur aud Feather Series, "The Grouse," p. 32. 



2 Ibid., p. 147. 



