122 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



are habitually " let off," and thus it happens that from care- 

 lessness, simplicity, or confidence, they sometimes disregard 

 the proximity of a cart. That is the conclusion which the 

 manners of Grey-hens when close at hand, seem to indicate. 

 But the case is very different with the Blackcock. He is 

 neither simple nor careless, nor apt to trust. Timeo Danaos 

 is his motto, and he will never "cart." Only on four or 

 five occasions have I managed to get an old Blackcock from 

 the cart, and these, with one exception, merely by chance 

 shots at long distances. The exception was a singular 

 instance of the erratic properties of bird-instinct. We were 

 on a hill alive with Grouse, and though it was a fine bright 

 December morning, with keen black frost, not a bird would 

 " cart." At last we observed a single Blackcock, which not 

 only allowed us to reach an easy range, but actually, at that 

 moment, squatted flat on the ground. Such tactics were so 

 extremely unusual in a Blackcock, that we continued ad- 

 vancing in order to see what he meant to do ; prostrate 

 and motionless, he lay till we were actually within three 

 yards, when he sprang away on his last short journey. 



On approaching Blackcocks with a cart, they are all visibly 

 on the alert, with necks up on full stretch, and evidently 

 unable to comprehend the raison d'etre of the phenomenon. 

 It may of course be only a harmless farm-cart ; but if ever 

 they commence so to grapple with the problem , their distrust 

 and suspicion invariably overcome their reasoning powers, 

 and they take wing at three or four gunshots' distance. 



The entire failure of this stratagem to outwit these birds 

 arises, therefore, from no superior intellectual development 

 in the Blackcock as compared with the Grouse, but really 

 the reverse. Intellectually, Tetrao tetrix is distinctly of an 

 inferior capacity to Lagopus scoticus cunning, distrust and 

 suspicion predominating, rather than reason or calculating 

 power. It is, in short, rather in despite than by reason 

 of his mental capacity that he manages to escape. 



Yet, although Blackcocks cannot be approached directly 

 with a cart, it frequently happens that some are bagged during 

 a day's carting. Being so conspicuous an object, their posi- 

 tion can generally be detected far away, and by manoeuvring 



