1002 DH. E. A. WILSON OX THE [JuiielS, 



uat am H-plumage and the winter-summer-plumage, and he says 

 further that the cock '' has no distinct sunuuer-pluniage." It is 

 j>ei-fectly easy to see what is meant by this, and also by the 

 statement whii'li follows, that the cock " retains the winter- 

 plumage throughout the breeding-season." 



Mr. Millais also, in speaking of the cock Grouse, makes use of 

 the expression autumn-plumaye which, he says, appears late in 

 June ; and he adds that the autumn-jjlumage together with the 

 '■'■ Sprivg feathers" (or what Mr. Ogilvie-Grant considers the first 

 beginning of the autumn-plumage on the Grouse's neck) remain 

 till the main moult in August and September. 



i\Ir. Millais also makes the following stiitement, which appears 

 to be based on a misinter})ietation. He says " as a matter of 

 fact the male Grouse sheds in September and August a plumage 

 which is a mixture of its Winter, Spi'ing, and Eclipse feathers." 



These so-called "Spring" and "Eclipse" feathers are no doubt, 

 as Mr. Ogilvie-Grant holds, the commencement of the plumage, 

 which is completed gradually during the summer months, and 

 which he has described as the autumn-plumage. It is naturally 

 a little misleading to find the autumn-plumage beginning to 

 appear in early summer, but so long as the term is understood 

 to mean the paler, more bufl:'- coloured plumage Avith bolder bars 

 of black, which l)egins to appear first on the neck of the cock at 

 the end of ]\Tay or early in June and is eventually cAst for the 

 winter- plumage in October, there need be no real misunder- 

 stiinding. 



That feathers of the previous winter-plumage sliould be 

 mentioned in speaking of the moult of this autumn-plumage is 

 also quite intelligible, since the old winter-plumage of the bi-east 

 and abdomen is being quickly shed and replaced by a similar new 

 wintei'-plumage at the time when the autumn-phnnage on the 

 rest of the body is being cast. There are in addition very fre- 

 quently a few feathers of the copper-red plumage on the chin 

 really belonging to and remaining over from the previous winter- 

 plumage. 



Instead of going into furthc- details, however, with I'egard to 

 the two moults and phnnages of the cock Grouse, it will be 

 simpler at this point to take its j)lumage-changes in detail, succes- 

 sively month by month, explaining as nearly as possible what can 

 V)e gathered from the examination of a series of skins such ns has 

 been brought together by the Committee of Inquiry, including as 

 it does a great nunil)er of specimens in all stages of disease as well 

 as in health. 



'J'hey illustrate every month of the year and most of the local 

 variations to be found in England, Scotland, and Jieland ; and 

 there are a sufficient ninuber of sick as well as healthy birds to- 

 show the very great influence of disease in altering the capacity 

 of the indivithial for feather-growth. Unless this efiect, which 

 residts as a rule in the lied Grouse from excessive parasitism, is 

 fully recognized there will always be misunderstandings upon the 



