232 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



c A thousand probabilities cannot make one truth,' 

 observed the sententious Nasman. 



Pine woods are generally said to be silent, never- 

 theless Sweden in spring is highly musical, indeed 

 quite orchestral, with birds. 



They came out to an open space where were willow- 

 grouse in abundance. Close time was not then and 

 there thought of ; Emporelius had levelled his gun for a 

 shot, when he was stopped by the sight of an unfamiliar 

 species of kite poised motionless above. He wavered 

 and missed everything. 



' All covet, all lose,' quoth Nasman. 



' I wonder we never see the red grouse of England 

 and Scotland here,' said 'Sandel, who had stayed in 

 England on his way from America. ' The feeding 

 would be much the same.' 



f It may be the same bird as our grouse, changed 

 somewhat by the conditions of our climate,' said 

 Linnaeus. 1 



The red grouse of the Scotch and Welsh hills are 

 the only large and conspicuous creatures entirely con- 

 fined to the British Isles. All our other animals have 

 come to us from somewhere else, but the red grouse is 

 found nowhere else than in Britain. The only bird 

 at all closely resembling it is the willow-grouse of the 

 Scandinavian peninsula, which changes its plumage 



1 Linnasus classed several species of birds in the genus Tetrao. 

 Dr. Bree considers that the affinities of the willow-grouse ' are more 

 wita the ptarmigan than the red grouse, but it is distinct from both.' 



