346 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



of thousands of acres of bracken, pine, and rush ground in 

 Scotland, England, and Wales that have no sporting value. 

 They are too high for pheasants and partridges, and do not 

 grow the right food for grouse. The result is that they are 

 useless, but are nevertheless natural homes for black game, and 

 are so much appreciated that bachelor black cocks will inhabit 

 them for years, as also will a few old grey hens that do not 

 breed, and the probability is that they keep off all the breeding 

 birds. 



The grey hen lays from six to ten eggs on the ground. 

 They are of a yellowish shade spotted with darker colour of 

 brown or orange-brown. The playing-grounds and manners of 

 the birds in love and war are best described in Booth's rough 

 notes, and best illustrated in Millais' game birds and shooting 

 sketches. However, both seem to suggest that all the birds in 

 the neighbourhood meet on one playing-ground. This is not 

 so, and there are sometimes and probably always several simul- 

 taneous tournaments in very near proximity. 



The black game has feathered legs but not feathered feet, 

 as has erroneously been stated. 



These birds have been successfully introduced, and have bred 

 for some years, at Woburn Abbey. Capercailzie have also been 

 added to the birds of England by means of their successful 

 introduction in the woods of Woburn, by the Duke and Duchess 

 of Bedford. 



