THE PLUMAGE OF THE GROUSE 57 



large number of skins of the Scotch grouse. Both 

 male and female grouse are liable to leucotism, or, in 

 other words, to exhibit a tendency to assume white or 

 light-coloured plumage. The male grouse have two 

 dominant types of plumage, the red and the black. 

 The females have three principal plumages : the black, 

 the spotted and the yellow. The red is found, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Millais, principally in Ireland and the 

 Outer Hebrides. He finds little difference in Irish 

 birds whether they be killed on the swampy ground 

 of the north and south or upon the high mountains 

 of Mayo, Connemara and Donegal. 



The black form ' is the most unusual of the three 

 types, and one which is very rarely developed to any 

 degree of purity. It is more often to be found mixed 

 with the red or the white type, but most commonly 

 with both. When combined with these two forms, it 

 is the one most commonly met with by the sportsman 

 during winter, and five old cocks out of six, shot 

 at that season, will be found to be of this type.' 



As for the females, Mr. Millais decides that the 

 red type is the rarest, and the spotted and breeding 

 dress birds are the most beautiful. ' The females of 

 the red Irish bird arc yellow, and not red, as would 

 be supposed ; they arc, however, quite different from 

 what are generally known among Yorkshiremen as 



