228 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xv. 



the food in the air, which is the usual method of transference 

 ascribed to these birds. On all other occasions they were 

 almost touching, and it was quite impossible to say if the 

 food was snatched or dropped. From the hide itself I could 

 form no opinion, for though I had plenty of peepholes, the 

 whole thing was so soon over that I usually missed it by not 

 finding the correct peephole in the few available seconds. 

 One cannot but receive with scepticism the glib accounts 

 of one or two of the few bird-photographers who have tackled 

 these birds with success, of the feeding of the hen by the 

 cock ; for a hide is a hide, and the best peepholes in the world 

 have their limitations. Moreover, when the observer refers 

 to the book he is reading at the time, one can no longer attach 

 much weight to his observations. Personally, I was quite 

 dissatisfied with my own brief glimpses from the tent and 

 spent many hours on the opposite hill watching the oft- 

 repeated performance through the binoculars with un- 

 impeded view, and still I am in doubt. 



The male never hunted late. Usually before sundown 

 he would bring in his last catch and then spend an hour 

 feeding and preening himself. His first bag would usually 

 be brought in soon after sunrise. This, and the last of the 

 day, provided the only two regular meals for his mate, and 

 these she mostly tore to bits and ate, not on one of the 

 boulders, but on the ground somewhere on the slope of the 

 hill. (Indeed, in preparing the food for the young she 

 usually tore it up on the ground in preference to a rock.) 

 She was always very slow and deliberate over her feeds, 

 " Eeping " continuously, usually being engrossed for about 

 half an hour. In the meantime the cock would sit on one 

 of his pet boulders and preen, or mostly in the mornings, 

 also devoured prey, during which occupation he would utter 

 his feeding " Kek " from time to time. Once in a while 

 he would fly to the hen, who invariably moved to a fresh 

 spot. If the cock again pursued, she shifted afresh. On 

 one fine sunny morning she moved four times in and out of 

 the tree as a result of his advances. The second or third 

 and subsequent catches (except the last) were always given 

 to the young via the hen who sometimes ate parts herself. 



The male was very fond of two particular boulders and 

 nearly always sat on one or o^her of these during his evening 

 rest. This resulted once or twice in a rather amusing 

 situation, for one of these was apparently also a favoured 

 post for the evening performance of an old cock Grouse. 

 On two evenings, soon after sunset, the Grouse quietly strolled 



