400 GAME-BIRDS. 



bility of rearing her young. During the pairing-season the males are in the 

 habit of resorting to some spot where in the morning and evening they fight for 

 the possession of the females; each challenging the other in turn, and going 

 through a series of skirmishes till the older and stronger birds have driven off the 

 rest and won the females. Black-game are chiefly found in the neighbourhood of 

 pine and birch forests bordering moorland, where bilberry, cranberry, heath, and 



BLACK-GAME AT HOME. 



bracken flourish, though they may sometimes be seen on the open moor. Although 

 their flight is straight, and their regular wing-beats somewhat laboured, they 

 can travel at a great rate. Black-game perch on trees, much of their food 

 consisting of buds and flowers, while in autumn they may be seen on the stubbles 

 in search of grain. The blackcock by no means confines his attentions during the 

 pairing-season to the hens of his own species, the hybrids produced by a cross 

 between this species and the capercaillie being not uncommon. Sometimes, too, he 



