TETRAONIDA. 493 
THE BLACK GROUSE. 
TETRAO TETRIX, Linnzeus. 
Birds of this species are generally known collectively as Black- 
game, and in Devon and Somerset as Heath-poults ; the sexes being 
distinguished as the Blackcock and the Greyhen. They are found, 
in small numbers and locally, in Cornwall and South Devon, and 
are tolerably plentiful on Exmoor, as well as on the Brendons and 
the Quantocks, in Somersetshire ; while they still maintain themselves 
in Dorset, Wilts, and the New Forest district. In Sussex, Surrey 
and Berkshire their presence is the result of reintroduction early in 
the present century, and none are now to be found in Kent, where, 
however, the species existed in the time of Henry viii. ; and it is 
in an ordinance for the regulation of the royal household dated 
from Eltham that the word ‘Grouse’ makes its first appearance in 
