104 GAME BIRDS AND SHOOTING-SKETCHES 



plete by the beginning of October, in point of colouring, 

 though it is not until the third season that it really 

 becomes quite perfect, and the tail, the bird's chief adorn- 

 ment, has attained its complete length and graceful 

 curves. The young males of the first year can easily 

 be recognised during the winter by the brown ribbings 

 on the crown of the head and white markings on the 



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throat, as well as by the incomplete shape of the tail. 



Blackgame, like the rest of the Tetraonidee, have the 

 two kinds of plumage, the dark and the light specimens 

 of cocks varying from brilliantly marked forms to others 

 which appear almost entirely black and which show r 

 hardly any of the bronze -blue on the neck and back. 

 In these very dark birds the tendency to melanism 

 generally shows itself by the white feathers covering 

 the vent being ribbed more or less broadly with 

 black. One killed by John Sutherland, Lord Cawdor's 

 keeper, had thick black bars across every feather under 

 the tail. 



The number of species with which Blackgame have 

 been known to interbreed is larger than that of any other 

 game bird. These hybrids are of very rare occurrence, 

 and, with the exception of the cross with the Capercaillie, 

 are not likely to be met with by sportsmen. The other 

 kinds with which they have been known to breed are 

 Grouse, Pheasant, Bantam, and Common Fowl. In 

 Sweden it also crosses occasionally with the " Eipa " 

 or AVillow r -Grouse, of which there is a good specimen 

 in the Dublin Museum. The hybrid with the Pheasant 

 is by far the most beautiful and interesting ; and the 

 specimen belonging to Mrs. Hunter, of Glen App, Ayr- 



