RED GROUSE (Lagopits Scoticiis) GLIDING UP 

 TO 7HE GUNS 



The Red Grouse or Miiirfowl is here selected for illustration not 

 only on account of its importance as a game-bird, but also because 

 it is the only member of its class peculiar to our islands. In Great 

 Britain it ranges from the Orkneys to Shropshire and Glamorgan, 

 and is also found in Ireland, though less abundantly. The Red 

 Grouse is closely .related to the Willow Grouse {Lagopiis albus)^ 

 which ranges right round the colder parts of the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere, but it does not, like this species and the Ptarmigan {L. 

 mutus), turn white in winter, though there are seasonal changes in 

 the plumage. It is popularly supposed that the date at which 

 grouse-shooting begins determines the rising of Parliament, and 

 although the notion is erroneous its origin is not far to seek. 



