9440 Birds, 



be seen to rise sereral feet in the air, and then drop down again on 

 the same spot. The coveys uuite, often about September, in " packs," 

 sometimes in great numbers ; these, again, are broken up by the 

 pairing of the birds, which took place this year about the end of No- 

 vember. This early pairing is remarkable, as the hen does not lay 

 (in this neighbourhood at least) until the month of March. Here, 

 and, as far as I can learn, throughout Scotland, grouse are never seen 

 in anything deserving the name of underwood, unless they have been 

 driven into it by shooters : will Mr. Norman pardon my inquiring 

 whether this may not have been the case with the grouse which he 

 flushed and shot in Yorkshire in low thickets of birch, willow and 

 braken ? (see Zool. 9054). When frightened they often fly to curious 

 places ; thus on the 12lh of August this year a cock grouse settled in 

 a garden at a considerable distance from any mootr, and close to 

 where some men were working. Neither does this species affect 

 long and robust heather, it being well known to sportsmen that 

 a covey will seldom remain long in such places, even when driven 

 into it. The great variety in colour in this species is well known ; 

 much of this appears to depend upon age. Young birds have, in 

 winter, a great deal of white on the lower breast and belly, and about 

 the beak and eyes ; they also have the greater and lesser under wing- 

 coverts both white : while old males often have the belly nearly black 

 at that season, with hardly any while spots ; and many of them have 

 the lesser under wing-coverts dark brown. Grouse increase decidedly 

 in weight towards the end of the season ; males then average (in this 

 district) about twenty-four ounces, females about twenty ounces ; 

 however, they sometimes are much heavier ; an old male killed in 

 November weighed twenty-eight ounces ; a female shot at the same 

 time, twenty-four ounces. 



Sparrowhawk. — In June a brood of young birds of this species 

 were placed in a cage, and in two days the old hawks brought them 

 ten birds, namely, two young peewits, two young thrushes, a skylark, 

 a meadow pipit, two young chaffinches, a willow wren, and another 

 newly-hatched squab. This shows how destructive these hawks are 

 among the smaller birds : I have known a male sparrowhawk kill a 

 full-grown partridge. 



Fieldfare. — These birds have been very plentiful this winter (as 

 noticed by the Rev. F. O. Morris in a recent letter to the ' Times') ; 

 the flocks also arrived here sooner than usual, appearing at the end 

 of September : Yarrell says that the fieldfare is seldom seen until the 

 beginning of November. At first they inhabited the woods, feeding 



