332 THE COCK OF THE WOOD. 



drake, or rather the sharpening of a scythe, and the 

 beginning and end are a kind of explosion, as if a 

 quantity of air were shot from the beak, with a sound 

 that is not easily described. During the time that he 

 is thus agitated, he becomes insensible to danger ; and 

 though at other times a vigilant and wary bird, may 

 be shot, or even knocked on the head. The nest is 

 formed on the ground among the natural moss, and is 

 very simple in its construction ; the eggs vary from 

 eight to sixteen, about the same size as those of the 

 common hen, but blunter at the ends, and of a yel- 

 lowish white, irregularly spotted with yellow. The flesh 

 of these birds, which acquires a peculiar pungent taste 

 from the juniper berries on which they feed, is highly 

 prized ; and it is so little disposed to putridity, that, in 

 the winter months it may be brought fresh from Nor- 

 way to Britain ; the eggs too are highly valued, and 

 accounted more valuable than those of any other bird. 

 All circumstances, indeed, conspire to make one regret 

 the loss of so valuable an animal ; but if it ever again 

 should be restored to the country, it must be in the wild 

 state ; for even in those countries where it is abundant, 

 it has never been brought to live in a state of do- 

 mestication. Hybrids which are barren, and thus 

 prove, independently of other evidence, that the spe- 

 cies are distinct, have been produced between these 

 birds and the 



