432 SHOOTING. 



sants and blackcocks have completed their moult, 

 and when they are in good condition, after glean- 

 ing the stubbles. 



When the sportsman meets with black-game or 

 muir-fowl, as well as red-game or grouse, he may 

 distinguish the former, if old birds, by their supe- 

 rior size. He cannot but recognise the cock, which 

 is jet black, marked with white on the wings, 

 and is as large and heavy as an Essex pheasant. 

 He will distinguish the hen and poults from the 

 red grouse, by the length of their necks. In form 

 and appearance, when on the wing, black-game re- 

 semble wild ducks. They are longer birds than, 

 and not so plump as red grouse, which, in turn, are 

 not so plump as partridges. The plumage of a 

 young blackcock is nearly the colour of that of a 

 red grouse, until the moulting season, which is in 

 October, when he sloughs his brown coat for a suit 

 of sable. The gray-hen and the young blackcock 

 may be distinguished from the red grouse by the 

 under feathers of the tail being mottled brown ; 

 those of the latter are black, as in the ptarmigan. 

 Black-game are generally hatched in rushy fields, 

 near to an uninclosed moor or heathery plantation. 

 They visit stubble-fields, or rather corn-fields, for 

 corn is harvested late in those cold countries where 

 the hills are covered with their native brown ; 

 whereas the red grouse is rarely known to quit the 

 open moor, unless driven thence by men, dogs, or 

 stress of weather. The red grouse feeds chiefly 

 amidst the heather. Black-game will often feed, 

 and sometimes (though rarely) the red grouse also. 



