PHYSIOLOGY AND ANATOMY OF RED GROUSE 129 



As we know much about these wasted autumn hens it is now safe to 

 say that they may be placed in two classes : History of 



(1) Those that were too sick in the spring to breed at all, and p^'g 11 

 so remained barren. 



(2) Those that were not too sick to breed, but bred small clutches and 

 reared from two to four or five young Grouse. 



The first class has the best chance of recovery, for with them there is 

 nothing to occupy their attention but food and rest and their own convalescence. 

 Probably most of these are passably healthy birds in autumn, with no sign of 

 having suffered very badly except in their backwardness as regards change of 

 plumage. These birds usually show a great mixture of plumages, having feathers 

 sometimes of the preceding winter plumage, mingled with an irregularly grown 

 nuptial spring plumage and perhaps some new feathers of the already overdue 

 autumn-winter plumage. 



The second class is different. They also have a mixture of the same three 

 plumages, but with more complete nuptial feathers, and fewer of the preceding 

 winter plumage. They are the worst of all the sick birds seen in the autumn 

 months. They have been less sick in the spring than the barren birds, but 

 they have been worn out completely by the effort to nest, and by the cares 

 of their family. They have nevertheless won through, thanks to the summer 

 and autumn food supply and summer weather, and by the autumn they 

 are convalescent. By January they will in all probability be once more 

 comparatively strong and healthy, but not so well prepared to meet the 

 critical conditions of early spring as those included in the first class. These, 

 probably, of the second class are the birds that form the first class in the 

 following year, or perhaps they cannot even rise to that, and fall victims to- 

 the spring mortality. 



VOL. I. 



