34 TETRAONIDiE. 



ruffled up, and, in short, he much resembles an angry turkey cock." 

 Some young capercaillies have been reared in these gardens. 



M. Alex. P. Prevost of Geneva informed me, in Aug. 1846, that this 

 species is still occasionally, though very rarely, obtained in that quarter. 

 One had been killed in the Jura mountains during the preceding 

 season. 



THE BLACK GEOUSE. 



Black Game. 



Tetrao Tetrix, Linn. 



Is not now found in Ireland, 



And that it ever was so, is at least doubtful. I have not met with 

 any satisfactory evidence of this very fine bird having been indigenous. 

 Smith, in his ' History of Waterford ' (1745), remarks — " It is uncer- 

 tain if we have not the Urogallus minor, Rati, viz. the heath-cock or 

 grouse of Willoughby, which I take to be the black game of England, 

 and also an inhabitant of the mountains," (p. 336). The same author, 

 in his " History of Cork," says of " The black grouse {Tetrao sen Uro- 

 gallus minor') : — This species is frequent, and needs no particular de- 

 scription. It inhabits mountains, and is rarely seen in lower heath 

 grounds. The cock is almost black, but the female is coloured like a 

 woodcock or partridge." Were this description taken from native 

 birds it would be decisive as to the species ; but it is, instead, borrowed 

 from the work of Willoughby. Mr. Templeton states his having 

 heard, from good authority, that " black game is mentioned in some of 

 the old leases of the county of Down ;" but even so, proof that the 

 Tetrao Tetrix was the bird so alluded to, and did exist there, would 

 still be required. Pennant states, in his 'British Zoology' (1776), 

 that " some have been shot in Ireland, in the county of Sligo, where 

 the breed was formerly introduced out of Scotland, but I believe that 

 at present the species is extirpated." 



That many portions of Ireland, when it abounded in natural wood, 

 were well suited for the abode of the black grouse, does not, I 

 conceive, admit of any doubt ; * but then we know not whether Great 



* This remark about wood, in connexion with black game, was founded on personal 

 observation in parts of Ayrshire, Perthshire, and Invemess-shire, where the species 



