116 HAZEL GROUSE. 



The Hazel Grouse is an inliabitant of many of the lieatlieiy or 

 woody mountains and plains of Europe. It occurs in the north of 

 Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, the 

 Alps, Savoy, Verona, the^ Tyrol and Siberia as far as the River 

 Lena. In France it is '^p^ecially found among the Pyrenees, the 

 mountains of the Vosges, the Dauphine, and the Ardennes. It does 

 not occur in Greece nor Holland, and is not noticed in Dr. Machado's 

 list of the birds of Andalusia. Dr. Schrenck includes it in the birds 

 of Amoor Land. 



Salvadori (Fauna d^Italia) writes of this bird:— "Is found upon the 

 Alps. It was formerly sufficiently numerous as to cover during its 

 passage nearly all the Alpine regions. It is more rare now. It still 

 lives upon the Venetian and Lombardian Alps^ in the Tyrol, and 

 probably also in Ticino. It was found many years ago on the Alps 

 of Piedmont, but I now doubt whether it has not been destroyed. 

 According to Risso it has also been found in the maritime Alps near 

 Nice. It inhabits the groves of pine, fir, and birch trees. It feeds 

 upon buds, berries, seeds, and insects. It nests under the boughs, 

 in a small cavity, into which it places grass bents, roots, and leaves. 

 It lays from ten to fifteen eggs, of a yellowish rosy colour, with 

 brown spots and points. 



"The name of Francolino, given to this species in many places, 

 has led to the erroneous belief that it is the true Francolino, which 

 it is not. There are various individuals brought over in the flesh 

 with many others by Signor Cirio in the Museum of Turin. In 

 these specimens the general tint is so decidedly ash-coloured as to 

 make me doubt whether they do not belong to a species distinct 

 from that of our Alps, in which the general tint is decidedly reddish 

 or rosy. Brehm has already given this species from Russia as dis- 

 tinct, under the name of BoJiasia sylvestris, (Handbuch Vog. Deutsch., 

 p. 514, pi. 25, fig. 2.)" 



The late Mr. Wheelwright, of Gadsjo, in Sweden, living in the 

 land of Grouse, has obligingly favoured me with some notes about 

 this and the next species: such information, coming from the fountain 

 head, always being most acceptable. 



"The Hjerpe has never been met with in the south of Sweden, but 

 is found in the woods of Dahl and in the south-west coast of Bohus 

 Land. It is tolerably common in Oster Gothland. It is rare around 

 Stockholm, but common in the more northerly parts; (Nilsson remarks 

 that this appears the more strange since the same bird comes in 

 numbers into Germany and even France. Lie thinks that if it were 



