PLUMAGE CHANGES OF THE HEN GROUSE 43 



PART II. PLUMAGE CHANGES OF THE HEN GROUSE. 



The two changes of plumage in the hen Grouse are completed, as has 

 already been explained, in the one case by the end of April or the begin- 

 ning of May. and in the other case by July and August. 



J J J Seasonal 



The actual feather changes in both cock and hen are really very changes of 



plumage. 



comparable in character, notwithstanding the difference as to season ; 

 and allowing for the difference of two months which makes the moult in 

 the two sexes asynchronous, they may be described and explained in very 

 much the same terms. 



Mr Ogilvie-Grant was the first to draw attention to the exceptional want 

 of agreement in the seasons chosen by the two sexes of the Red Grouse for 

 their moult, and as in the cock's plumage he makes use of the 



i Explana- 



terms "autumn and winter - summer or "winter plumages, tionof 

 which have therefore been used here, so in speaking of the hen's 

 plumages it will be well to adhere similarly to the expressions used by 

 him, and to call them "summer" and " autumn - winter " or "autumn" 

 plumages. 



Exception may be taken, and indeed has been taken, to these names, as 

 being inappropriate and inexact, but they are sufficiently exact for all 

 practical purposes, and so long as moults and plumage changes are not 

 completed in a week, but are spread over a period of several months, so long 

 will there be some inexactitude in the terminology of these moults and 

 plumages if they are named according to the months or seasons. It is 

 immaterial so long as the term is sufficiently defined, for it is obviously 

 impossible to use a term so exact as to require no definition. 



The hen Grouse moults twice in the year, and wears her "summer 

 plumage" as the breeding dress from April to July, and her "autumn" or 

 "autumn to winter" plumage from August to March. These changes may 

 be expressed in terms of comparison with the cock, as a case of plumage 

 change in which the hen has two annual moults, exactly as has the 

 cock, but both moults occur two months earlier in the hen than in the 

 cock. 



The hen's "summer" or breeding plumage is a very beautiful dress, 



