424 RA SORES. TETRAO. Black Gkous. 



habited the forests and mountainous districts of Scotland 

 and Ireland, has placed the Black Grous at the head of this 

 genus in the British Fauna. The present species is now 

 confined, in the southern parts of England, to a few of the 

 wildest uncultivated tracts, such as the New Forest in Hamp- 

 shire, Dartmoor and Sedgemoor in Devonshire, and the 

 heaths of Somersetshire. It is also sparingly met with in 

 Staffordshire, and in parts of North Wales, where it is under 

 strict preservation. In Northumberland it is very abundant., 

 and has been rapidly increasing for some years past, which 

 may be partly attributed to the numerous plantations that, 

 within that period, have acquired considerable growth in the 

 higher parts of the county, as supplying it both with food 

 and protection. It abounds throughout the Highlands of 

 Scotland, and is also found in some of the Hebrides. — The 

 bases of the hills in heathy and mountainous districts, which 

 are covered with a natural growth of birch, alder, and wil- 

 low, and intersected by morasses, clothed with long and 

 coarse herbage, as well as the deep and wooded glens so fre- 

 quently occui'ring in such extensive wastes, are the situations 

 best suited to the habits of these birds, and most favourable 

 to their increase. During the months of autumn and winter, 

 the males associate, and live in flocks, but separate in March 

 or April ; and, being polygamous, each individual chooses 

 some particular station, from whence he drives all intruders, 

 and, for the possession of which, when they are numerous, 

 desperate contests often take place. At this station he con- 

 tinues early every morning and in the evening during the 

 pairing season, repeating his call of invitation to the other. 

 sex, and displaying a variety of attitudes, not unlike those 

 of a Turkey Cock ; accompanied by a crowing note, and by 

 another similar to the noise made by the whetting of a scythe. 

 At this season his plumage exhibits the richest glosses, and 

 the red skin of his eye-brows assumes a superior intensity of 

 colour. With the cause that urged their temporary separa- 

 tion, their animosity ceases, and the male birds again asso- 

 ■ciate, and live harmoniously together. 



