GROUSE 143 



the Red, the White, the Spotted, the Yellow, and the 

 Black. The females of the Red Irish bird are yellow, 

 and not red as would be supposed ; they are, however, 

 quite different from what are generally known amongst 

 Yorkshiremen as " yellow hens," which latter are finer 

 in the markings of the feathers and lack the boldness 

 of the lines found in the Irish birds, and I am sorry 

 that space forbids my being able to give examples of 

 both the forms. 



Of the types of hens the red is the rarest, and the 

 spotted and breeding-dress birds the most beautiful. 



Any sportsman who does much Grouse-driving and 

 cares to study natural history can form a most beautiful 

 and varied collection of the various changes of plumage 

 found in this bird without much difficulty, and one which 

 will ever be of interest to himself and his friends. For 

 the past ten years I have been continually adding to my 

 series, and have now about sixty examples of all the forms 

 and varieties ; with these and Mr. T. E. Buckley's, who 

 has been kind enough to lend me his collection, I have 

 been able to work out all the different forms and give 

 illustrations of the most pronounced types. Art, un- 

 fortunately, is but a poor substitute for Xature, and the 

 reader, if a shooter, will do well to form a small collection 

 of his own, from which he will o-et a far better knowledge 



O O 



of the subject than from any pictures. 



As before remarked, the changes of plumage in the 

 Grouse are the same as in the Ptarmigan, and birds will 

 be found to be in full moult in April, August, and October ; 

 the latter change, however, takes longer than the other 

 two, and no doubt many Grouse, like the Ptarmigan, 



