THE RED GROUSE. 75 



heaths of the eastern portions of Scotland are less suitable 

 to its tastes than the north and west, hut there is not a 

 county (unless Clackmannan prove an exception) which 

 cannot claim the Bed Grouse as an inhabitant. Across the 

 border it is found on the moors of all the northern counties, 

 especially on those of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, down the 

 backbone of England as far as the Trent, particularly 

 between 1,000 and 1,500 feet of elevation ; westwards it 

 occurs in Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, 

 and on most of the Welsh moors down to Glamorgan. 

 Beyond these lines the Eed Grouse, although introduced on 

 the heaths of Surrey and elsewhere, has never succeeded in 

 maintaining itself, and Montagu records with surprise the 

 occurrence of a straggler taken alive near Weohampton, in 

 Wiltshire, in the winter of 1794. 



On the moorlands and peat-bogs of Ireland it is generally 

 distributed, although, from want of preservation, not in such 

 abundance as in Scotland and the north of England. 



The Red Grouse pair very early in spring, and the female 

 soon goes to nest : this is formed of the stems of ling 

 and grass, with occasionally a very few feathers : these 

 materials being slightly arranged in a depression on the 

 ground, under shelter of a tuft of heather. Daniel, in his 

 'Rural Sports,' says that "on the 5th of March, 1794, 

 the gamekeeper of Mr. Lister (afterwards Lord Ribblesdale), 

 of Gisburne Park, discovered on the manor of Twitten, near 

 Pendle Hill, a brood of Red Grouse, seemingly about ten 

 days old, and which could fly about as many yards at a 

 time ; this was an occurrence never known to have happened 

 before so early in the year." 



Thompson (Birds of Ireland, ii. p. 49) mentions a 

 nest containing eleven eggs on the Belfast Mountains on 

 17th March. A farmer in burning ling off Shap Fell, burnt 

 over a nest containing fifteen eggs on the 25th of March, 

 1835. The eggs are from eight to fourteen or fifteen in 

 number, of a reddish-white ground colour, nearly covered 

 with blotches and spots of umber brown : measuring about 

 1-75 by 1-2 in. The female sits very close ; and Mr. 



