HAZEL GROUSE. 117 



introduced it would thrive in the rocky wooded tracts of North 

 Scania.) 



"The Hazel Grouse does not go so high up the fell sides as the 

 Capercaillie or Black Grouse, and it disappears from the Norwegian 

 fells long before we have reached the limits of the frost. According 

 to Herr Von Wright, it is found up as high as Kengis, (67° 10',) 

 and even as high as Mounioniska. It is common in most parts of 

 Wermerland." 



"It frequents old thick forests, as well as young plantations of birch 

 and pine mixed, and I think this is much owing to the season of the 

 year. With us it is generally found in old fir forests with stony rises, 

 and often at the foot of rocks in the aln and birch woods. In summer 

 they appear to frequent leafy plantations, and with the fall of the leaf 

 they withdraw into the fir forests, where they remain through the 

 winter, only making occasional migrations into the nearest birch woods 

 to feed on the catkins of the birch, which at this season forms their 

 principal, and, I think, their only nourishment, for I never by any 

 chance find any fir shoots in their crops, as I do in those of the 

 Capercaillie. They appear always to be on the ground, and only fly 

 up into a fir-tree when they are flushed. Their flight is noisy and 

 bustling, and they never go far. I never find them by any chance in 

 the open, like the Black Grouse." 



"They live in a state of monogamy, and with us the pairing takes 

 place about the same time as that of the Capercaillie or Black Grouse. 

 The note is a soft rather melancholy pipe, which can be readily imi- 

 tated by a Hjerpe whistle made of bone or quill. The call-note 

 rather resembles 'li, li, tltititi-ti.' The note of the male is stronger 

 than that of the female. By this note, which we always hear from 

 the ground, the sexes carry on their spring conversation, and in the 

 autumn the mother uses the same kind of language to her young. As 

 soon as the pairing is over the sexes divide. The males keep then 

 single, and you never see three or four together. The female lays as 

 many as from nine to twelve pale yellow brown-spotted eggs, in a 

 hole in the moss on the ground. She makes no nest. She hatches 

 the eggs by herself, and has all the care of the young. As soon as 

 the young can fly, the male comes back to them, and the whole 

 family live together during the autumn and winter. They remain 

 throughout the year in those woods in which they take uj) their 

 abode. I never saw more than one family together in our forests, 

 though in Finland they are said to pack. In the beginning of April 

 they separate into pairs, and the breeding season begins, although I 

 never took a nest in Wermerland till the middle of May. 



