144 GAME BIRDS AND SHOOTING-SKETCHES 



retain a greater part of their autumnal dress throughout 

 the winter. 



The red dress of the male and barred yellow of the 

 female may be said to be alike in all parts of our Islands 

 during the breeding-season, although the natural difference 

 in shades and marking of the light and dark forms must 

 be taken into account. Birds of the Black type are 

 naturally of a much more sombre hue than the purer 

 Red forms, and the various shades of colour are retained 

 to a certain degree. 



From the month of May the plumage of both sexes 

 passes through all the changes mentioned in the case 

 of the Ptarmigan, and every fresh month brings its 

 alteration of feather, either by moulting, discoloration, 

 or both, till by November the bird stands clothed in 

 its winter dress, that shows the type completed in one 

 form or another. Young birds of the year are easily 

 distinguished till the month of September, but by 

 November it is impossible to see any difference between 

 them and the old birds. The mode of determining 1 ao-e 



o O 



by holding the bird up by the lower mandible and 

 judging by its fragility whether it is a young bird, is by 

 no means a sure test ; often in September the bill of a 

 young bird will not break, and sometimes that of an old 

 one will when the bird is unusually heavy. 



Considering the immense number of Grouse that are 

 annually killed, it is surprising how very few albinos, or 

 coloured varieties, crop up amongst them. Althouoii 

 albinism is more common in the Grouse than in any 

 of the other Tetraonidse, it is very rare to see a complete 

 albino, or even one in which the red or yellow parts of 



