580 NOTES ON THE 



Hungary, and during the last few years I have not seen more 

 than four or five of these birds that have been shot in Swit- 

 zerland or our Alpine districts. In Bohemia Hybrid Grouse 

 have recently been increasing in number a fact that cannot 

 be attributed to closer preservation of the ground, as the 

 shooting of Capercaillies has for many years been pursued 

 with the same keenness, and cocks which are so very aber- 

 rant both in appearance and call would have been instantly 

 detected by so many excellent sportsmen. 



These remarks on the distribution of the Hybrid Grouse 

 suggest the theory that it is a distinct species belonging to 

 Asia and the north-east of Europe, which is now extending 

 its range westwards, the study of animal-geography teaching 

 us that this is characteristic of many other Asiatic species, 

 and especially of those belonging to the Grouse tribe. 



The idea that Hybrid Cocks only occur where Capercaillie 

 are common and Blackgame are but rare visitors, or the re- 

 verse, is a mere illusion, and too much stress is also laid on 

 the variations in plumage among the individual cocks. 



One speaks of the Hybrid Grouse as being of the Caper- 

 caillie or Blackgame type ; but a good many specimens have 

 already passed through my hands, some in the flesh, more in 

 skins, and I am bound to say that I never found any essential 

 differences between them, either in size or plumage, greater 

 than those due to age, and which occur among all the other 

 species of Wood-Grouse. The notes, too, of this bird when 

 drumming are always the same, and quite peculiar to it, 

 having no resemblance to those either of the Capercaillie or 

 the Blackcock. 



In reply to all this naturalists adduce other and, I must 

 confess, more weighty arguments for considering it to be a 

 cross. The manner, for instance, in which its drumming is 

 conducted differs among various individuals. Some Hybrid 

 Cocks frequent the dense forests, where they utter their 



