1 26 TATRAONID^E. 



FAMILY XXV. TATRAONID.E (GROUSE). 



GENUS LX. LAGOPUS (PTARMIGAN). 



SPECIES 118 THE RED GROUSE. 



Lagopns Scoticus. Selby. 

 Tetras rouge. Temm. ' 

 Black Cock. 



THIS beautiful species, possessing so many claims on the no- 

 tice alike of the sportsman and the naturalist, is one we might 

 call essentially Irish. Adapted from its habits, and harmo- 

 nizing with its plumage, to the solitudes of the hill-side, on 

 which it is found, it is the representative of our heath-clad 

 hills, as much as the eagle typifies our grey misty mountains, 

 or the skylark the green valleys of our island. 



Interesting to the naturalist from the fact of its being a 

 species indigenous to the British Isles, found in no other 

 country in the world, and maintaining its ground success- 

 fully against all the engines of slaughter directed against it, 

 the peculiarities of the grouse are so prominent that the most 

 indifferent to the picturesque in nature must admit her beau- 

 tiful adaptation in clothing the hill-side with its heather, and 

 then placing the magnificent grouse the presiding genius of 

 her solitudes. 



Occurring in considerable plenty in those localities we have 

 mentioned, in favourite districts it nearly equals the numbers 

 of the strictest Highland preserves in Scotland ; and, strange 

 as it may appear to many, we may even hear to-day the lordly 

 challenge of the grouse within a few miles of the city of Dub- 

 lin, on the mountains fringing the southern side of the city. 

 This fact is possessed of considerable interest when we re- 

 member the attraction to poachers, herdsmen, and gossoons, 

 endowed with a most oblivious memory respecting the many 

 wise laws duly made and enacted for the preservation of 

 our game. Annoying as it is, we might even pardon the 

 occasional abstraction of a " black cock" from the preserve ; 

 but when (as occurred in an instance to ourselves) we saw 

 the eggs roasted in the hot furze ashes of the peasant's cot, 

 it is a perfection of barbarism unfortunately occurring too 

 often. 



Easily tamed in confinement, it becomes a most agreeable 

 pet. A male bird, at one time in the possession of T. Grier- 



