52 BLACK COCK SHOOTING. 



although the form of its tail is much the same, save 

 that the curve scarcely exceeds half an inch in depth. 

 Its plumage is pale brownish-orange as the ground 

 colour ; yellow- white at the throat, breast, and belly ; 

 there is a shot of dark purple on the sides of the 

 neck. Bars, and undulations of black, cover the 

 plumage. The centres of the feathers on the wings 

 and shoulders are black, diverging to a fainter hue ; 

 and at the tips, similar to those of the partridge. 

 The bill of both male and female is black, or nearly 

 so. There is little variety of plumage in this species, 

 although Jardine speaks of a grey hen that he had, 

 shot by Sir Sidney Beckwith, whose entire colour was 

 a dull whitish grey, and whose cross markings were 

 of a darker shade. 



The black grouse are partial to moist flats, and 

 meadows of rank and luxuriant herbage. They appear 

 to care little for heathy pastures, but choose, in pre- 

 ference, those glens and passes between high lands, 

 where grow the natural brushwood of the stunt birch 

 and hazel, the willow or the alder, and where fern is 

 both deep and thick. In such favoured spots they 

 are never at a loss for food; are protected from the 

 night-cold, and from the fervid rays of the midsum- 

 mer sun. Here, in flocks, they will resort to their 

 feeding grounds; young and old frequently joining 

 together amicably : and here they will sport or rest 

 during the day's heat on the hill side, and pick up 

 food morning and evening. The females are left in 

 charge of their young ; they build their nests on the 



