G R O U S. 



ai3 



Slack Grous, Gen. Syn, iv. p. 733. 3. 



Tetrao tetrix, Sepp Vog. pi. in p. 165. BLACK GROUS. 



'I ^HIS bird, as I have been lately informed, becomes gradually 

 more fcarce all over the north of England^ as well as in Scot- 

 land, owing tovarious caufesj viz. the great improvement made 

 in the art oi Jhooting flying.^ introduced within thefe few years : the 

 cuftom of inclofing many moors and commons, added to the mif- 

 chief done by burning the heath on the moors, in order to ferti- 

 lize them, and which it is difficult to prevent, being commonly 

 fet on fire in the night, and will often extend for feveral miles; 

 and, as it is chiefly done in the fpring, many nefts, with the old 

 ones upon them, are deftroyed thereby. Perhaps the great faci- 

 lity of conveying thefe birds to the metropolis, or the great 

 trading towns, by means of the numberlefs wheel-carriages, may 

 likewife contribute greatly to their fcarcity. 



Thefe birds will live in menageries in a confined ftate, but have 

 not been known to breed therein. 



The flelh of feveral of the Grous kind is more or lefs inclined 

 to brown; notwithftanding, it iswell-tafted : but in this bird part 

 of the flefli of the breaft is white, and called, in the north, the • 

 White Mufck, appearing as a fingular contraft to the furrounding 

 parts, which are deep coloured. This circumftance is not ob- 

 ferved in the Wood Grous, whofe breaft is equally dark-coloured 

 throughout ; nor in any other of this fpecies that we know of. 



Neither this fpecies, nor the Ptarmigan, are at prefent in Ircr 

 land, though the Red Grous is found in plenty among the moun- 

 tains and bogs of that kingdom. 



Spuriout 



