138 HISTOKK OF 



recesses of the woods for their residence, while the smaller kinds 

 come more into the open and cultivated parts, where there is 

 more food and more danger. It is thus with the birds I am 

 describing : while the cock of the wood is seldom seen, except 



eiid of autumn, when the plumag-e gradually changes to a deeper colour, 

 nnd assiunes that of a bluish black, which it afterwards retains. 



The Red Grows, or Red Game. — The \Aeight of the male is about nine- 

 teen, and of the female fifteen ounces. The bill is black ; and at the base of 

 the lower mandible there is on each side a white spot. Each eye is arched 

 with a large, naked, scarlet spot. The throat is red. The plumage of the 

 upper part of the body is mottled wth dusky red and black. The breast and 

 belly are purplish, crossed with small dtisky lines. The heathy and moun. 

 tainous parts of the northern counties of England are in general well stocked 

 with red grous. These birds are likewise very coninioii iu Wales, and the 

 highlands of Scotland ; but they have not yet been observed iu any of the 

 countries of the continent. In winter they are usually found in flocks of 

 sometimes forty or fifty in number, which are termed, by sportsmen, packs, 

 and become remarkably shy and wild. They keep near the summits of the 

 lieathy hills, seldom descending to the lower grounds ; here they feed on the 

 mountain-berries, and on the tender tops of the heath. They pair in spring ; 

 and the females lay from six to ten eggs, in a rude nest formed on the 

 ground. The yoimg brood (which during the first year are called pouUt) 

 follow the lieu till the approach of winter, when they iniite with several 

 others into packs. Red grous have been known to breed in confinement, 

 in the menagerie of the late Dutchess Dowager of Portland. This was, in 

 some measure, effected by her grace causing fresh pots of heath to be placed 

 in the menagerie almost every day. The flesh, as in all others of his tribe, 

 is an excellent food ; but it soon corrupts. To prevent tills, the bird should 

 be drawn immediately after they are shot. 



IVhite Grous, or Ptarmigan. — Tliis bird is nearly the same size as the red 

 grous. Its bill is black ; the upper parts of its body are of a pale brown or 

 ash-colour, mottled with small dusky spots and bars ; the bars on the head 

 and neck are somewhat broader, and are mixed with white ; the under 

 parts are white, as are also the wings, excepting the shafts of the quills, 

 which are black. This is its summer dress, which in winter is changed to 

 a pure wliite, excepting that in the male there is a black line between the 

 bill and the eye. The tail consists of sixteen feathers ; the two middle ones 

 are ash-coloured in summer, and white in winter ; the next two are slightly 

 marked with white near the ends ; the rest are wholly black : the upper 

 tail coverts are long, and almost cover the tail. The wliite grous is fond of 

 lofty situations, where it braves the severest cold. It is found in most o'. 

 the northern parts of Europe, even as far as Greenland ; in this country it 

 is only to be met with on the summits of some of our highest lulls, chiefly 

 in the highlands of Scotland, in the Hebrides and OTkneys, and sometimes, 

 but rarely, on the lofty hills of Cumberland and Wales. Buflon, speaking 

 of this bird, says, that it avoids the solar heat, and prefers the biting frosit 

 on the tops of mountains ; for as the snow melts on the sides of mountains, 

 It constantly ascends, till it gains the summit, where it forms holes and bur- 

 rows in the snow. They pair at the same time as the red grous, Theferaale 



