1 86 cassell's eook of niRDR. 



supply is diminished to the tender tops of shoots of birch, fir, and lieath, and vaccinia and juniper 

 berries. In spring and summer, these birds live apart in families, but in the autumn and winter remain 

 together in flocks, which, when snow is on the ground, roam from place to place in search of food. 



" Unlike the Capercali, which mostly roosts in trees," says Mr. Lloyd, " the Black Cock almost 

 invariably passes the night on the ground, antl in the winter, more es[)ecially if the cold be intf^nse, 

 it not seldom buries itself in the siunu." Nilsson indeed supposes that the bird only makes a hollow 

 in the snow and allows itself to be covered by the falling flakes ; but Mr. Lloyd assures us that the 

 bird makes a regular burrow for itself, the depth depending, it is generally believed, on the mildness 

 or severity of the weather. "Scores of times," he says, "when crossing glades and other openings in 

 the forest, where the surface of the snow, to the casual observer, appeared to be as smooth as glass, 

 one or more Black Cocks have suddenly emerged from beneath the snow, almost at my feet, and 

 when expecting every moment others to follow I have carefully looked about me, I never could 

 discover anything beyond the slightest indentation in the snow where the bird had burrowed, the 

 hole itself being filled up by the sides collapsing ; and yet perhaps within the next minute half a 

 score of Black Cocks would fly up all around me. That their heads were above the surface previously 

 to their leaving the snow I hold to be impossible, nor can I conceive that even their beaks protruded 

 as others will have it. If air be needful to birds when thus imbedded in the snow, their beak no 

 doubt forms an imperceptible orifice, through which they are enabled to respire." 



In addition to his own experiences in the matter, Mr. Lloyd quotes the observations of the 

 amusing though sometimes " marvel-relating " Bishop Oppidam : " In the winter-time the Black 

 Grouse take care of themselves in this manner: they first fill their craw with as much food as it will 

 hold, till it hangs like a bag under their necks, whereby they are provided for something to live on 

 for some time ; then they will drop themselves down into the soft snow and do not stay in their first 

 hole, but undermine and burrow in the snow some fathoms from it ; and there they make a small 

 opening for their bills, and thus be warm and comfortable." 



In the warm days of early spring these birds resort to their pairing ground, for unless they have 

 been disturbed, they frequent the same place year after year. " The places selected at such seasons," 

 says Sir W. Jardine, " are generally elevations, such as the turf enclosure of a former sheep-fold, 

 which has been disused and is now grown over, or some of those beautiful spots of fresh and grassy 

 pasture, which are well known to the inhabitants of a pastoral district. Here, after perhaps many 

 battles have been fought and rivals vanquished, the noble, full-dressed Black Cock takes his stand, 

 commencing at the first dawn of day, and where game is abundant, the hill on every side repeats his 

 humming call ; he struts round the spots selected, trailing his wings, inflating his throat and neck, 

 and pufiing up the plumage of these parts and the now brilliant wattle above the eyes, raising and 

 expanding his tail and displaying the beautifully contrasting white under tail-covers." (See engraving, 

 p. 185.) 



" ^Vhile the Cock is thus parading to and fro," says Mr. Lloyd, " he frequently vaults high into the 

 air, and in doing this 'slews' his body round, so that on alighting again his head is turned in an 

 opposite direction." This season of admiration does not continue long, the females dispersing to 

 seek a place for their eggs, and the males retreating to the shelter of the brushwood or brakes of fern, 

 they are then seldom seen except early in the morning and evening. The nest of the " Grey Hen," 

 as the female is commonly called, is very simple, being merely a hollow in the ground sheltered by a 

 low bush or tuft of grass ; the eggs are from six to twelve in number, about two inches long, and of a 

 yellowish white colour, spotted and dotted with yellowish red. The mother has the entire charge 

 of the young, both during and after incubation, and most zealously does she defend her trust, acutely 

 distinguishing friends from foes, as the following anecdotes from the Zoologist will prove : — 



