1907.] FROM THE GIZZARDS OF GAME-BIRDS. 4:Q^ 



these show the usual quartz and quartzite, and, curiously, one 

 contained a shot. 



Grouse. — There are 17 specimens of Grouse, from Ross-shire^ 

 Inverness-shire, Aberdeenshire, and North Wales. In the Scotch 

 birds quartz preponderates, with feldspar-granite, and garnets; 

 in the Welsh birds the grit is mainly quartz, chiefly derived 

 from vein-quartz. (The latter quartz is also found in birds lately 

 examined in Kincardineshire.) Of these birds five contained shot, 

 and in one from North Wales a No. 8 shot was found, pointing 

 to the fact that the shot are swallowed, as few people shoot grouse 

 with No. 8. In no case was there any sign of a wound of the 

 the gizzard. 



Black Game.— Only 5 specimens; four of these are from 

 Ross- shire, and one from Exmoor ; practically they all contain 

 quartz, and the Ross-shire birds contain also pebbles from the 

 igneous rocks. One contained three shot. 



Pheasants.— 4:7 specimens. These include specimens from the 

 moorlands of Ross-shire, Inverness-shire, North Wales, and Exmoor ; 

 birds from Worcestershire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and 

 from the chalk land of Hampshire; and birds from Surrey, 

 Norfolk, and Middlesex. Naturally these vary very much in the 

 character of the grit, but in 22 more or less quartz was seen. 



Some of the Scotch birds were obtained for me by Lord Lovat 

 and Mr. Munro Ferguson of Novar from the moors of Inverness 

 and Ross-shire, and the grit found in them is almost the same as 

 that found in the Grouse ; the same obtains with birds shot on 

 Exmoor, which contain grit very similar to the Scotch birds and 

 the birds killed in North Wales by Sir Watkyn Wynn. But the 

 Pheasant up to a certain point seems to be able to adapt itself to 

 the grit it finds in certain localities, provided it is hard enough. 

 This IS well shown in a bird from Kerry Abermule, N. Wales, 

 which evidently had been feeding on wild rose berries ; only five 

 pebbles were found in the gizzard, the seeds of the rose berries 

 evidently acting as grit, as happened in some other cases. 



The adaptability of the Pheasant to its surroundings was well 

 shown in the case of a bird from Uxbridge, 13 miles from London, 

 in which the contents of the gizzard included pottery- ware. Mr. 

 Eastall in his report showed that three birds, shot at Horley in 

 Surrey on the same day, contained a remarkably difierent 

 collection of grits. They were obtained in a circumscribed area, 

 highly preserved, but I have been unable to find out whether grit 

 was artificially supplied or not. 



One set of specimens is very interesting as showing that the 

 Pheasant, when preserved, must have proper grit. These specimens 

 were sent from a wood in Worcestershire — Bissell Wood near 

 Stourbridge, noted for not holding Pheasants. Last season 500 

 Pheasants were put into the wood, and only 100 were shot. The 

 gizzards contained pebbles which Mr. Rastall is unable to identify 

 as being found in Old or New Red Sandstone, but knowing the 

 county, I can say they probably came from the New Red Sandstone. 



