250 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xv. 



time after [ihe mother had gone. Long after her dis- 

 appearance, as a last resource, they tried it for themselves. 

 Now for the first time they slept apart, little Runtie being 

 left all by himself on the edge of the nest. 



On the 2nd of August, with the exception of the little 

 backward chap, the down was disappearing visibly. The 

 colouring ot their first winter plumage was now apparent. 

 The tail-feathers were still in sheath for nearly half their 

 length, the flights only at their bases. The irides were very 

 dark hazel and the cere a little more deeply tinged with 

 yellow. A pale tawny stripe had appeared above the eye. 

 The back was brown with a steely-grey mixed into it, the 

 individual feathers having dark centres and light brown 

 fringes. The breast was rufous-brown with sandy streaks. 

 The thighs were a dirty white with rufous " blobs " scattered 

 thinly over them, shaped like tear-drops and quite different 

 from those of the adult. They spent more time than ever 

 flapping and stretching their wings and climbing on to the 

 heather to jump off again, wings outspread. One of them 

 went right round and beyond the back of the hide, fifteen 

 feet from home, the farthest yet. 



On August 5th the three biggest could fly for about a 

 hundred yards. For the first time I heard them respond 

 with a first-class imitation to the alarm " Kek " of the 

 mother. 



In conclusion, I will quote verbatim from m\^ notes M'ritten 

 on the spot, to give the reader a clearer idea of the home life 

 of these birds for a few hours in the evening and the morning. 



"July 27th, 191S. — 7.30 p.m.: The hen is sitting silently 

 on her rock. 7.50 : The rapid ' Kek ' of the cock suddenly 

 breaks the silence as he flies across the valley in front of the 

 tent. Immediately the hen rises with the long drawn 

 ' Eep-eep-eep.' He then feeds her too low and too far to 

 see the exchange, which was done like a flash. Both birds 

 then settle quite close together. For twenty minutes the 

 hen keeps up the ' Eep ' from the same spot, a good distance 

 away. Periodically comes the short ' Kek ' of the cock 

 from about the same spot, though now he is flying right 

 over the tent uttering the same note. The young take no 

 notice of him except to watch him in his flight. (At the 

 first ' Eep ' of the hen they had begun to whimper expectantly, 

 but soon got quiet again.) They are now very restless and 

 have shifted back to the old nest and have begun preening. 

 They can stand up but are very shaky, and waddle rather 

 than walk. Grouse are now getting noisy, but my birds 



