4 o 4 XORTHERX EUROPE 



upright to scan the enemy Its straight, quick, noisy flight never takes it high in 

 the air. During the moult these birds press the body flat to the ground, so that 

 only a dog can find them. In winter they exchange the brown plumage for a 

 dress of white, and while the feathers are changing, arrange them so as to hide 

 those which are most conspicuous, for their colour forms their chief protection at 

 all seasons. As the down of the young is of the same colour as the ground, it 

 serves to conceal them even from the sharp eyes of birds-of-prey. The willow- 

 grouse is from 16 to 17 inches in length ; in winter it is white, with the exception 

 of the outer feathers of the tail, which are always black ; on the other hand the 

 colour in summer is rusty brown with black markings, and white feathers on the 

 feet. The beak is black, and above the eyes is a bare red spot. In summer dress, 

 a willow-grouse much resembles a red grouse. Both are in much esteem as 

 game-birds. In Scandinavia willow-grouse are shot in winter, since at that season 

 the}' may be sent longer distances. Every year large quantities come to Drontheim, 

 Stockholm, and other large towns in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, where they 

 are said to form a third of the edible birds on the market. They are also exported 

 in enormous quantities. 



The red grouse (L. scoticus) is the British insular form of the willow- 

 grouse, and is confined to the British Isles, where it varies much in plumage. In 

 the male there are three distinct types of coloration, and in the female there are 

 five, all of which grade into one another, the onl} - invariable characteristic mark 

 of the species being the primaries, which in all the varieties and at all seasons are 

 blackish brown. In the ptarmigan and willow-grouse there are three moults a 

 year, but the grouse has only two, the male changing his plumage in autumn and 

 winter, and the female changing hers in summer ami autumn. The grouse is not 

 found beyond the limits of heath and heather (Erica and Cattuna), its place above 

 that line being taken by the ptarmigan. The nest is a hollow in the ground lined 

 lightly with sprigs, grass, moss, and feathers ; and when sitting the hen is almost 

 invisible, owing to her plumage harmonising so well with her surroundings. 

 While she is sitting, her mate is never too far off to give her a warning call at 

 every danger, and he has also a sort of crow with which he greets the dawn, 

 particularly on a frosty morning. The eggs, seven to fifteen in number, — in colour 

 huffish white mottled with red or brown, — are laid in April or May, though they 

 have been found on the 17th of March and early in June. The young are at first 

 clothed in yellow down marked with brown above, but soon begin to resemble 

 their mother, who has a smaller wattle than her mate, is paler in colour, and has 

 no moustache. When the young can fly easily, the families or " coveys " gather in 

 " packs," the males and females keeping separate. The flight is low, with much 

 gliding on outstretched wings. Grouse feed on bilberries, both fruit and leaves, 

 on the tips of heather and heath, and on grain, in search of which they frequently 

 visit the stubble-fields near their moors. They not only live in Scotland, but in 

 England down to Sherwood Forest, in Wales down to Glamorganshire, in Ireland, 

 and in the Hebrides and Orkneys. 



The ptarmigan (L. mutus), in which, unlike the willow-grouse, the cock has 

 a black stripe through the eye, inhabits the mountains of Scandinavia, Scotland, 

 Bavaria, Tyrol, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, and the Pyrenees up to the snow-line. 



