288 DECEMBER 



season. Grey-hens are shot, often before the legiti- 

 mate day, and immature poults pay the penalty of 

 weak, heavy fliers. Indeed, had pheasants been 

 treated in the same way without the aid of hand- 

 rearing, they would have become extinct in this 

 country long ago. The season for shooting black- 

 game should be the same as that for pheasants; 

 instead of beginning on August 20th, it should be 

 deferred till October 1st, and instead of ending on 

 December 10th, it should go on through January, 

 when the cocks are in their finest plumage. More- 

 over, attempts should be made to replenish the 

 stock of black-game by hand-rearing, which is much 

 easier carried out with polygamous birds than with 

 those which pair. 



LXXXVIII 

 While we are grieved to note the diminution in 



the numbers of black-game in some parts 

 Capercailzie 



and of this island (they are not found at all 



in Ireland) it is a pleasure to think that 

 the other British members of the grouse tribe never 

 were more abundant. Capercailzie are spreading 

 steadily wherever suitable tracts of wood exist, and 

 although they are of indifferent repute for the 

 larder, the restoration of these splendid birds to our 



