GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



i8s 



THE BLACK COCK. 

 The Black Cock {Lyrurus tetrix) is principally of a rich black, relieved upon the head, throat, 

 and lower back with a magnificent steel-blue sheen ; the wings are enlivened by bands of pure white, 

 the feathers on the lower tail-covers are also of snowy whiteness ; the eye is brown, the pupil blueish 

 black, and the beak black ; the toes are greyish brown, the eye brown, and a bare patch around the 

 eye bright red. In the female the prevailing colour of the plumage is a mixture of rusty yellow and 

 rusty brown, marked with transverse stripes and spots of black. The length of the male is nearly two 



^1 ill IS1 



THE BLACK COCK {Lyrunis tdr'ix). 



feet, and its breadth over three feet ; the length of the wing is twelve inches, and that of the tail seven 

 inches. The female is six inches shorter and nine inches narrower than her mate. The young in 

 their first plumage resemble their mother ; but in the first moult the black feathers of the young 

 males appear about the sides and breast. 



The Black Cock is generally distributed over the European continent, being found in Germany, 

 Holland, France, and, according to Savi, in Italy. In the north, it is met with in Scandinavia, 

 Russia, Siberia, and Lapland. It is said at one time to have been frequent in Ireland, but has long 

 suice disappeared. In England it is met with on heathy hills and forest districts, becoming more 

 plentiful toward the borders of Scotland, and is found in considerable abundance in the mountainous 

 and wooded parts of that country. Its favourite haunts are the low slopes of hills, in which bmsh- 

 wood and coppice • alternate with heather and fern, and rocky, well-wooded glens. In spring and 

 summer its food consists of leaf-buds, the tops of heather, berries of various plants growing among the 

 heath, insects, larvas, and sometimes corn and seeds from the neighbouring fields. In winter this 

 VOL. III. — 103 



