5124 THE ZooLocist—OcToBER, 1876. 
of the kingdom, and is still indigenous in some of the more wild parts of the 
forest. One evening in May I had been upon an extensive heath for some 
considerable time, in the hope of finding the much-coyeted eggs of the hen 
harrier or Montagu’s harrier,—one or both species had frequented the heaths 
the previous season,—and, as darkness was fast coming on, I was preparing 
to find the track into the highway when I was somewhat startled by a 
peculiar noise, as loud as it was strange to me, and, as far as I could 
conjecture, it came from the top ofa hill at no great distance. I crept 
stealthily towards the spot, and on reaching the brow of the hill I saw five 
or six males of the black grouse engaged in a desperate fight. So intent 
were they on tearing and plucking each other that I crept on hands and 
knees amongst the heather to within a few yards of the scene of the 
conflict, when my proximity became apparent, and the belligerents dis- 
persed, one or two settling upon the branches of some beeches which were 
near. I had read, but was never before an eye-witness, of these amatory 
conflicts amongst those beautiful birds, and on this occasion I did not see a 
female anywhere in the neighbourhood; but the scattered feathers left upon 
the battle-field seemed to indicate that what I had seen was not the first 
occurrence of the kind which had taken place upon the same spot. Is it 
the case that, the species being polygamous, all the males of the surrounding 
neighbourhood meet at a particular spot and fight for the privileges of the 
harem? I was not aware, until I saw the congregation in question, that 
such a number of this species were resident in any one spot in the forest. 
Often in crossing the heaths and moorlands a specimen of this noble bird 
may be put up, but it is seldom that more than one, ora pair at most, is 
seen. I have occasionally seen the young birds, but never stumbled upon 
the nesting-place except on one occasion. ‘The slovenly-constructed nest 
was on the ground amongst a few stunted bushes of blackthorn and tall 
heather, and contained four eggs, but the bird which laid them was evidently 
unwell, as the markings were pale and very ill-defined—different, in fact, 
from specimens I have seen from the north. As to the food of the species, 
I suspect few kinds of berries come amiss to their taste. I have seen both 
acorns and hawthorn berries in the stomach of the same bird, and on one 
occasion I saw a female feeding upon the scarlet berries of the knee-holm, 
or “ butcher’s-broom,” as I believe itis called, which berries, by-the-bye, are 
said by the forest people, to be stained with the blood of the Danes. They 
will also eat whortle-berries,—locally “ black-harts,"— which grow very 
commonly in some parts of the forest. At the beginning of April a game- 
keeper brought me a beautiful female bird which had come by its death by 
flying against the telegraph-wires: it was much mutilated about the breast, 
its neck was broken, and its head nearly severed from the body: the 
stomach of this specimen contained the tops and leaves of heather, mixed 
with a little green herbage. ‘The forest people call the male “ black cock,” 
OO a ee 
