GROUSE 127 



probably owed their existence to the food which they 

 obtained from the blackthorn and rowan trees. A crofter 

 on the margin of Loch Ruthven in that county told me 

 that every day during the month of January, when there 

 was a depth of five or six feet of snow over the whole 

 country, he had seen the Grouse sitting on the blackthorns 

 and eagerly devouring the hips and haws, looking like so 

 many Blackcocks. When the snow eventually cleared 

 away, numbers were found lying beneath the bushes, 

 having died from starvation when all the berries were 

 exhausted. 



It is, of course, difficult for birds furnished with so 

 feeble a development of the hind claw to maintain 

 anything like a steady perch when sitting on trees, but 

 with practice they are perfectly able to do so. In addition 

 to the Tetraonidse, most of the Grallatores (Waders) are 

 quite at home in trees, two of them, the Wood and the 

 Green Sandpiper, even nesting in them. A curious 

 instance of how habits, such as I am referring to, may be 

 acquired, was related to me by a friend of mine who 

 resides in Westmoreland. He procured a setting of 

 Grouse eggs from the moor and placed them under a 

 bantam hen, who in course of time hatched them all. 

 Some were accidentally killed, and the others died from 

 various causes, except one cock, which throve well and was 

 greatly attached to its stepmother. Every evening the 

 bantam used to repair to a large beech tree near the 

 house, in which she was in the habit of roosting when 

 unencumbered by family cares. So when she was allowed 

 to remain out for the night her first thought was to make 

 for her old perch, to which she considered the youngster 



