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Mr. C. Barnby Smith,



hen arrived, I placed her with the other birds, and the first

hen attacked her for a time, but as the enclosure was spacious,

and provided with retreats in the way of fir and birch branches,

nothing serious happened. The cock had developed a good deal

of loose red skin over his eyes in April. About the middle of

that month I noticed him showing off to the first hen. During

April and May he was very fierce, constantly running hastily

about and spreading his tail and crowing and cackling defiantly if

anyone came near the enclosure. When the two hens quarrelled

he often intervened and chastised them in turn.


The birds’ enclosure was an uncovered triangular run,

about twenty yards each side, but I found that cats, or some

other enemies, visited it at night and terrified the birds, so I was

compelled to make in the middle of the run a small place a few

yards square, covered at top and sides with fine wire, and the

birds were driven into this every night.


This of course did away with my hopes of breeding, but I

dared not risk losing the old birds by leaving them out at night.

To my great surprise and delight I found on the 23rd of May

that the first-moulted hen had scooped out a little sandy hollow

at the foot of a broom in the outer enclosure, and. laid an egg.

Being anxious to secure this for hatching in due course under a

fowl, I took it from the nest and substituted a Plover’s egg. This

was probably a rather stupid thing to do—anyhow the bird for¬

sook the nest and did not lay again until the 30th May, when she

made another little hollow a few yards distant from the first and

laid again. I did not disturb the second nest, but it was also

deserted. This was perhaps not surprising, as there was a good

deal of traffic through the enclosure about this time, necessitated

by a hatch of little Mouals in another run beyond.


However, I think it quite possible that the second hen

Willow-Grouse may still nest and, I hope, with better results.

The eggs already obtained I am sending to Mr. Hugh Wormald,

knowing his skill in rearing game-birds.


My idea of a suitable place for, say, three pairs of Willow-

Grouse, is an uncovered grass enclosure about twenty-five yards

square, on a northern slope and gravel soil. It is natural to these

birds to have a good range, and, though they may survive for a



