BLACK GROUSE. 



439 



In winter, when the bleak mountain-sides seem unable to support a 

 bird of any kind, the Black Grouse lives on the willow-, fir-, and alder- 

 buds, birch-catkins, sprouts of turnips, seeds, and the never-failing heather, 

 and has been known to feed upon the leaves of the common polypody 

 fern. During heavy snow-storms or in very severe weather in the high 

 north of Europe, the Black Grouse sometimes burrows into the snow for 

 shelter, only leaving its refuge to feed or when the storm has abated. 



The general colour of the adult male Black Grouse is black, shading 

 into brownish black on the wing-coverts and wings, with purple reflections 

 most brilliant on the back, neck, and breast ; the axillaries, under wing- 

 coverts, under tail-coverts, and a bar across the wings (formed by the 

 greater wing-coverts being white at the base) are white. The thighs and 

 the feathers round the vent are mottled with white. The outermost 

 feathers of the tail curve outwards, somewhat in the shape of a lyre. Bill, 

 feet, and claws brownish black ; irides hazel. Above the eye is an erectile 

 scarlet wattle. The female has the general colour of the plumage 

 chestnut, shading into grey on the wing-coverts, breast, and under tail- 

 coverts, and barred and vermiculated with black. There appears to be little 

 difference between summer and winter plumage, but spring birds have all 

 the appearance of being newly moulted. Males of the year show traces 

 of the coloration of the female on the head, neck, innermost secondaries, 

 wing-coverts, and upper tail-coverts, and the outermost tail-feathers show 

 little or no sign of being curved outwards. Young in first plumage of 

 both sexes closely resemble females ; but the male assumes his semi-adult 

 plumage of the bird of the year in the first autumn. 



The Blackcock not unfrequently pairs with the female Capercaillie, and 

 the produce is a very handsome bird, having a nearly square tail, inter- 

 mediate in shape between the forked tail of the Black Grouse and the 

 rounded tail of the Capercaillie. It is a somewhat curious fact, though 

 probably conformable to a definite law, that the male hybrids, though 

 intermediate in colour between the male Black Grouse and the male Caper- 

 caillie, approach nearest the latter, whilst the female hybrid approaches 

 nearest to the female Black Grouse. The influence of the male parent is 

 apparently greatest upon the female hybrid, and that of the female parent 

 upon the male hybrid, the former transmitting the influence of his mother 

 and the latter that of her father. 



Hybrids between the Blackcock and the female Red Grouse sometimes 

 occur ; and the Blackcock has also been known to interbreed with domestic 

 fowls, the Pheasant, and the Willow-Grouse. Barren females not unfre- 

 quently more or less assume the plumage of the male, showing much 

 purplish black on the back and breast, and having the tail shaped as in 

 the male. 



