358 RED GROUS. Class II. 



part that lies above the eyes is less promi- 

 nent than in the male, and the edges not so 

 deeply fringed. / 



We believe this species to be peculiar to 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland; not having met 

 with any account of it, except in the writings of 

 our countrymen T^Ir, Ray and JVillughby, and 

 M. Brisson under the name of Boiiasa Scotica ; 

 the same writer describes it again by the title 

 of Aitagen, but his references are either to au- 

 thors who have copied our naturalists, or to 

 such who mean quite another kind. Mr. Ray 

 seems to think his bird, the other Lagopus of 

 Pliny,^'' or the Francolino of the modern Ita- 

 lians : but the account left us by Pliny seems 

 too brief and uncertain to determine at this 

 time what species he intended; and that the 

 Francolino is not the same with our grous, is 

 evident from the figure of it exhibited by our 

 accurate friend Mr. Edwards. '\ 



These birds pair in the spring, and lay fi'om 

 six to ten eggs : the young brood or packs fol- 

 low the hen the whole summer ; in the v. inter 

 they join in flocks of forty or fifty, and become 



* Est et alia nomine eodem, a coturnicibus magnitudine 

 tantum diflerens, croceo tinctu, cibis gratissima. Lib. x. c. 48. 



■\- Plate 246. This is the Perdix Francoiinus. Lalh. bid, 

 orn. 644. id. Svn. iv. 730. PI. Enl. 147, 148. Ed, 



