THE BLACK GROUSE. 



( Tetrao tetrix, ) 



The Black Grouse belongs to a group 

 of birds called ''Black Game." It is 

 a native of both Europe and Asia and 

 is not uncommon in some portions of the 

 British Islands, especially on the heath- 

 areas. The two sexes are very appro- 

 priately named. The male because of 

 its general black plumage is called the 

 Blackcock, and the female, whose plu- 

 mage is brownish in color, is called the 

 Grey Hen. The Black Grouse inhabits 

 the sides of hills, lonely heaths, and the 

 banks of marshes, but not too near hu- 

 man habitations. These birds are not 

 uncommon in the vicinity of "pine and 

 birch forests bordering moorland, where 

 bilberry, cranberry, heath and bracken 

 flourish, though they may sometimes be 

 seen on the open moor." They love any 

 uncultivated and desolate tract which is 

 well covered with a growth of shrubs 

 and coarse herbage. A region of which 

 Mary Howitt has written: 



Oh ! beautiful those wastes of heath 

 Stretching for miles to Inre the bee. 



The Black Grouse are polygamous, 

 each male pairing with as many females 

 as he may be able to attract. At the 

 opening of the breeding season the 

 m.ales resort to some open spot where 

 they utter loud and resonant notes which 

 are accompanied by a harsh and grating 

 sound which has been likened to the 

 noise caused by the whetting of iron 

 with a rough stone. These sounds are 

 usually produced at earl}^ dawn, and as 

 the day advances, the birds display the 

 beauties of their plumae^e by a variety of 

 poses and motions. The females are 

 thus attracted and the males fight 

 among themselves until the older and 

 stronger ones have won the females. In 



the case of these birds, the word pairing 

 can only be used in the sense of mating, 

 for the Blackcock does not pair, but at- 

 tracts all the females who are willing to 

 become his mates. These he soon leaves 

 to follow his own inclinations and they 

 alone must prepare the nests, incubate 

 their eggs and raise their young. The 

 females, however, are fond parents 

 and take most excellent care of their 

 young. Early in their lives, the young 

 are fed upon insects, but later, upon 

 wild berries and seeds, grains, buds and 

 tender herbage. The Blackcocks do not 

 confine their attentions to the females of 

 their own kind during the mating season 

 and hybrids are not uncommon as a re- 

 sult of a cross between it and related 

 species, such as the wood, red and w^il- 

 low grouse. In fact, crosses between it 

 and domestic fowls have been reported. 

 The Black Grouse feed to a great ex- 

 tent upon buds, flowers and tender herb- 

 age, and in the fall, upon the grain to be 

 found in stubbles. These birds are very 

 wild and wary and as they grow older 

 become shy and crafty. In the autumn 

 the young males of the season are said 

 to leave the individuals of the other sex 

 and flock together, living in perfect har- 

 mony until the nesting period of the 

 next season approaches. The flight of 

 these Grouse is rapid like that of related 

 species, and is accompanied by a whir- 

 ring sound caused by the rapid strokes 

 of their wings. The name grouse is 

 probably derived from the French word 

 griesche, greoche, or griais, meaning 

 speckled, and allied to the word grisciis. 

 grizzly or grey, which was at one time 

 applied to a partridge or a quail, birds 

 which belong to the same family as the 

 Grouse. 



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