THE GROUSE. 



79 



They are all distinguishable from other birds 

 of the poultry kind by a naked skin of a scar- 

 let colour, above the eyes, in the place and of 



the figure of eye-brows. 



the hen, you ought not to begin to call until an hour 

 after they have been flushed ; should you wish to take 

 them alive, the common net is placed round him who 

 calls. Towards the quarter the hen flies, there are sel- 

 dom to be found any of the young birds, for she tries 

 by her cackling to draw the dogs after her, and from her 

 young ones. As long as you wish to shoot, you must 

 not go out of your hut to collect the birds you have shot. 

 When the hen answers the call, or lows like a cow, she 

 has either got a young one with her, or the calling is in- 

 correct; or else she has been frightened, and will not 

 then quit her place. A young hen answers more 

 readily to the call than an old one." 



Mr Lloyd, in his amusing work, the Field Sports of 

 the North of Europe, describes a still more remarkable 

 mode of hunting the capercailzie namely, by torchlight 

 which he says is chiefly practised in the southern pro- 

 vinces of Sweden. " In Smaland and Ostergothland," 

 says he, "it is effected in the following manner: To- 

 wards nightfall, people watch the last flight of the caper- 

 cailzie before they go to roost. The direction they have 

 taken into the forest is then carefully marked, by means 

 of a prostrate tree, or by one which is felled especially 

 for the purpose. After dark, two men start in pursuit of 

 Ihe birds ; one of them is provided with a gun, the other 

 with a long pole, to either end of which a flambeau is 

 attached. The man with the flambeau now goes in ad- 

 Vance, the other remaining at the prostrate tree, to keep 

 it and the two lights in an exact line with each other; 

 by this curious contrivance they cannot well go astray 

 in the forest. Thus they proceed, occasionally halting, 

 and taking a fresh mark, until they come near to the 

 spot where they may have reason to suppose the birds are 

 roosting. They now carefully examine the trees ; and 

 vvheu they discover the objects of their pursuit, which 

 are said stupidly to remain gazing at the fire blazing be- 

 neath, they shoot them at their leisure. Should there 

 be several capercailzies in the same tree, however, it is 

 always necessary to shoot those in the lower branches on 

 the first instance ; for unless one of these birds falls on 

 its companions, it is said the rest will never move, and, 

 in consequence, the whole of them may be readily 

 killed." 



An attempt is now in the course of being made tore- 

 store to the pine forests of Aberdeenshire a bird which 

 once formed the object of a stately sport among our na- 

 tional nobility, and adorned the grandest of their feasts. 

 In the year 1828, a male and female were imported for 

 this purpose from Sweden by the earl of Fife, but as the 

 hen died before landing, the experiment was on that oc- 

 casion frustrated. Another pair was brought over in 

 1829, and placed in a proper aviary at Mar Lodge, 

 where an incubation took place, but without producing 

 a live bird. Another incubation of the same hen in 

 1830 was equally unsuccessful, and it was not till 1831, 

 and till particular pains had been taken for the preserva- 

 tion and proper hatching of the eggs, by the seclusion of 

 the female, that a brood was obtained. According to 

 the latest intelligence from the scene of this experi- 

 ment, it is designed, as soon as a few healthy broods 

 have been reared in confinement, to liberate a few in the 

 old pine woods of Braemar, and thus eventually to stock 

 with the finest of feathered game the noblest of Scottish 

 forests. 



Inferior though it be to the capercailzie, there still 

 remains in Scotland a very fine species of grouse the 

 black-grouse or black-cock. This bird, though not larger 

 than the common hen, weighs nearly four pounds ; its 

 length is about one foot tsn inches, breadth two feet nine. 



It seems to be something extraordinary, 

 that all the larger wild animals of every spe- 

 cies choose the darkest and the inmost recesses 

 of the woods for their residence, while the 



The bill is black ; the eyes dark blue ; below each 



tye 



there is a spot of a dark white colour, and above, a large 

 one, of a bright scarlet, which extends almost to the top 

 of the head ; the general colour of the plumage is a 

 deep black, richly glossed with blue on the neck and 

 rump; the lesser wing-coverts are dusky brown; the 

 greater are white, which extends to the ridge of the 

 wing, forming a spot of that colour on the shoulder, 

 when the wing is closed: the quills are brown, the lower 

 parts and tips of the secondaries are white, forming a 

 bar of white across the wing; there is likewise a spot of 

 white on the bastard w-ing; the feathers of the tail are 

 almost square at the ends, and, when spread out, form a 

 curve on each side ; the under tail coverts are of a pure 

 white; the legs and thighs are of a dark brown colour, 

 mottled with white; the toes are toothed on the edges, 

 like those of the former species. In some of our speci- 

 mens the nostrils are thickly covered with feathers, 

 whilst in others they are quite bare, probably owing to 

 the different ages of the birds. These birds, like the 

 former, are found chiefly in high and woody situations in 

 the northern parts of our island ; they are common in 

 Russia, Siberia, and other northern countries: they feed 

 on various kinds of berries and other fruits, the produce 

 of wild and mountainous places. In summer they fre- 

 quently come down from their lofty situations, for the 

 sake of feeding upon corn. They do not pair; but, on 

 the return of spring, the males assemble in great num- 

 bers, at their accustomed resorts, on the tops of high 

 and heathy mountains, when the contest for superiority 

 commences, and continues with great bitterness till the 

 vanquished are put to flight. The victors, being left in 

 possession of the field, place themselves on an eminence, 

 clap their wings, and with loud cries give notice to their 

 females, who immediately resort to the spot. It is said, 

 that each cock has two or three hens, which seem parti- 

 cularly attached to him. The female is about one-third 

 less than the male, and differs from him considerably in 

 colour; her tail is likewise much less forked. She makes 

 an artless nest on the ground, where she lays six or eight 

 eggs of a yellowish colour, with freckles and spots of a 

 rusty brown. The young cocks at first resemble the 

 mother, and do not acquire their male garb till towards 

 the end of autumn, when the plumage gradually changes 

 to a deeper colour, and assumes that of a bluish black, 

 which it afterwards retains. 



The Red Grouse, or Muirfowl. The weight of the 

 male is about nineteen, and of the female fifteen ounces. 

 The bill is black; and at the base of the lower mandi- 

 ble there is on each side a white spot. Each eye is 

 arched with a large, naked, scarlet spot. The throat is 

 red. The plumage of the upper part of the body is 

 mottled with dusky red and black. The breast and belly 

 are purplish, crossed with small dusky lines. The 

 heathy and mountainous parts of the northern counties 

 of England are in general well stocked with red grouse. 



