160 HISTORY OF 



on moles, mice, and even little birds, when they 

 can seize them. For want of other food, they 

 are contented to live upon turnip leaves and such 

 like succulent vegetables. In some parts of 

 Switzerland, they are found frozen in the fields 

 in severe weather ; but when taken to a warm 

 place they again recover. They usually live fif- 

 teen years, and are incapable of being propagated 

 in a domestic state, as they probably want that 

 food which best agrees with their appetite. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE GROUSE, AND ITS AFFINITIES. 



THE Cock of the Wood, the Black Cock, the 

 Grouse, and the Ptarmigan, these are all birds 

 of a similar nature, and chiefly found in heathy 

 mountains and piny forests, at a distance from 

 mankind. They might once indeed have been 

 common enough all over England, when a great 

 part of the country was covered with heath ; but 

 at present their numbers are thinned : the two 

 first of this kind are utterly unknown in the 

 South, and have taken refuge in the northern 

 parts of Scotland, where the extensive heaths 

 afford them security, and the forests shelter. 



The cock of the wood is sometimes of the size 

 of a turkey, and often weighs near fourteen 

 pounds j the black cock, of which the male is all 



