400 GAME-BIRDS. 
bility of rearing her young. During the pairing-season the males are in the 
habit of resorting to some spot where in the morning and evening they fight for 
the possession of the females; each challenging the other in turn, and going 
through a series of skirmishes till the older and stronger birds have driven off the 
rest and won the females. Black-game are chiefly found in the neighbourhood of 
pine and birch forests bordering moorland, where bilberry, cranberry, heath, and 


BLACK-GAME AT HOME, 
bracken flourish, though they may sometimes be seen on the open moor. Although 
their flight is straight, and their regular wing-beats somewhat laboured, they 
can travel at a great rate. Black-game perch on trees, much of their food 
consisting of buds and flowers, while in autumn they may be seen on the stubbles 
in search of grain. The blackeock by no means confines his attentions during the 
pairing-season to the hens of his own species, the hybrids produced by a cross 
between this species and the capercaillie being not uncommon. Sometimes, too, he 
