CHAPTER XII. THE RED GROUSE. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



the amateur game-preserver the natural history of the 

 JL Red Grouse or, to adopt the usual appellation, of the 

 Grouse is unimportant compared with that of the Pheasant, 

 the Partridge, or even the Black Grouse, inasmuch as of 

 all game birds Tetrao Scoticus has most right to be deno- 

 minated wild. The whole system of grouse preservation 

 nowadays is so much an art that a mere knowledge of the 

 habits of the bird, such as may be imparted in the limits 

 of the present work, can but serve as a starting point 

 from which its life history may be gathered. What the 

 pheasant does from day to day, the localities and 

 natural features it prefers, the routine of the partridge's 

 existence, and the kind of country it frequents, we can 

 claim to teach ; but to impart the knowledge of the grouse 

 which a highland keeper acquires only by dint of lifelong 

 experience, is what no one can claim to do. We can 

 scarcely give more than the stereotyped form of natural 

 history, though a trifle more correct, perhaps, than is gleaned 

 from the pages of popular works. The grouse is indigenous 



