o)i Red Giouee in Confinement.



93



nately I had the eggs under the bantam to fall back upon and,

after twenty-one days incubation, these all hatched out except

three. It is interesting to note that these eggs took twenty-one

days to hatch, as it is generally considered that the period of

incubation is twenty-four days; in fact, eggs which were sent to

me from Scotland some years ago took twenty-four days to hatch.


The newly-hatched chicks are most charming little birds,

very thick set with beautiful yellow down, with rich brown mark¬

ings, and “furred” legs and toes. I fed. the chicks on fresh

heather shoots, Spratts’ Maxco, hard-boiled egg and maggots.

They grew extraordinarily quickly, and out of one of the broods

of six I never lost a single bird ; they began feathering when

about three days old, and on the ninth day, primaries, secondaries

and both wing-coverts were well developed ; tails coming in and

scapulars growing fast. They flew well when little bigger than

sparrows. I did not lose any birds after they were a week old,

and by August 12th, they were every bit as big and strong as

wild birds, and in just the same state of plumage.


One great point to remember in rearing young grouse,

black game and capercailies is that full sun is fatal even to half-

grown birds; to guard against this Iliad some low, movable

covered pens made, about 30m. high, 12ft. long by 6ft. wide,

boarded half up the sides, and with wire netting lops. I then

spread a thick layer of grass, green boughs, etc. all over the tops

of the pens, so that practically all the interior of the pens was in

the shade, and when it did happen to rain (a rare occurrence this

tropical summer) the young birds kept nice and dry. Grouse,

young or old, must never be without grit, that is a golden rule,

(quartz grit will be found to be the best), grit has been found in

a grouse chick only thirty hours old ! When half-grown the

chicks began to take to dandelion leaves, spinach, chicory, etc.,

and were always very fond of any insects. Quite little chicks

would wrestle with fat yellow under-wing moths, and earwigs

were very popular.


One interesting point which I noticed, and recorded in a

recent number of the Field , is that young Grouse grow tin ee tails

in succession before they are five months old. i e. their first baby

tail which shows when the chicks are nine days old, this is



