1910.] PLUMAGE OF THE RED GROUSE. 1015 



in a feather which has long been fully grown, and which has 

 presumably been long cut off fiom any blood or lymph supply 

 and which is as dead as if it had been shed ? (PI. XO.) 



It is almost certain that rearrangement of the pigment or of 

 the pattern in this way is quite out of the question, and the 

 reasons for so thinking have already been discussed. 



The legs and feet of the hen Grouse in April and in May are 

 very poorly feathered and the claws are very long (Pis. XCII., 

 XCIII.). 



In June the legs and feet are almost bare, and the claws begin 

 to drop off. The precise date of this shedding of the claws is 

 again really a part of the moult, and is, in consequence, equally 

 dependent upon the health of the bird. Sick birds which have 

 survived the spring mortality are always late in the shedding of 

 their claws, and equally late in the changing of their feathers. 

 The claws are shed, both in health and in disease, but once a 

 year, and the casting is synchronous as a rule with the dis- 

 appearance of the autumn-dress. The figures (PL XCIII.) by 

 which this process is illustrated require but little explanation. 

 The whole of the yeai-'s growth of horny black nail becomes loose 

 on the soft and growing vascular matrix, and when quite ready 

 to be cast can be easily pulled off like a little cap. The young 

 nail beneath is at first soft and pink and vascular and very short, 

 but soon hardens and deepens in colour, and in a month or two 

 has grown to be a useful nail of horn. The transverse or 

 circular groove which is left at the point of detachment of the 

 old nail is quite a useful indication of age in cases where there 

 is a doubt as to a bird being over twelve months old or of the 

 year. The presence of the groove showing that the claws have 

 once at least been shed is conclusive proof that the bird is more 

 than twelve months old. 



In June there is another characteristic appearance in the hens, 

 namely the bare patch of abdominal skin which results from the 

 shedding of the abdominal feathers, grown in the pi-evious 

 September. The loss of these feathers leaves a naked patch of 

 skin on the abdomen of a hen that has been sitting, and this 

 patch remains naked for the next few months. 



The general character of a June hen in health is that of the 

 completed summer-nestling plumage, broad-barred buff and black 

 over all the upper- and underparts, excepting the abdominal 

 area, the lower breast, wings and tail. But it looks already 

 somewhat faded and worn ; and it is quite probable that in 

 acquu-ing so perfect a plumage for sitting unnoticed on a nest 

 built amongst the heather, the economic absence of the redder 

 pigment in the feathers is in part a result of the acknowledged 

 fact that for longer and more trying use and for wear and tear 

 in feathers, darker pigments are required, whereas for the short- 

 lived and less exacting requirements of the summer-plumage 

 in the Grouse from April to June the buff and black feathers, 

 with very much poorer wearing qualities, are found to be sufficient. 



66* 



