496 RED GROUSE. 
range as far as the Trent, as well as in Lancashire, Cheshire, 
Staffordshire, Shropshire, and on most of the Welsh moors to 
Glamorganshire ; but to the south-east of these lines it has never 
succeeded in maintaining itself, though introduced on the heaths of 
Surrey and elsewhere. It is resident on most of the moorlands and 
peat-bogs of Ireland, but is far less abundant there than in Scotland 
or the north of England. About thirty years ago it was accli- ° 
matized in the district of Gottenborg, South Sweden, and intro- 
duction has been essayed in North Germany. 
Red Grouse pair very early in spring, the female making a scanty 
nest in some depression in the ground, under shelter of a tuft of 
heather. The 8-10 and sometimes 15 eggs are of a buffish-white 
ground-colour, mottled with rich red or brown : measurements 1°75 by 
1‘2 in. Incubation, which lasts 23-24 days, does not become general 
until April, though eggs have been found by March 17th. The 
female sits very close, the male being usually at no great distance, 
while on the approach of danger he emits a warning ho, kok, kok. 
He isalsoin the habit of standing ona hillock and uttering a peculiar 
crow at dawn, especially on clear, frosty mornings ; the note of the 
hen being a strange nasal croak. The young leave the nest scon 
after they are freed from the shell, and, with their parents, feed on 
the leaves and fruit of the bilberry &c., the tips of ling- and heath- 
shoots, and, occasionally, grain ; the principal feeding-time being, as 
a tule, late in the afternoon. Unlike its congener the Willow- 
Grouse, our bird seldom perches on trees or bushes, though it often 
sits on earth-dykes and walls. In severe snowy weather Grouse are 
driven from the higher moors to the lowlands, and have been known 
to wander so far that they seem to have completely lost the bearings 
of their old haunts. The causes of the disease to which they are 
subject have been much disputed ; but as long ago as June 1815 a 
severe outbreak in the Reay country, Sutherland, was on record 
(Zool. 1887, p. 302). 
Mr. Ogilvie Grant considers that the male presents three distinct 
types :—a form in which the general colour is red; a form much 
spotted with white on the breast and belly; and a black form, often 
mixed with the two preceding. The complete moult begins after 
breeding ; a change in plumage taking place early in winter. 
Length 15 in. ; wing 8-25 in. The female (represented in the fore- 
ground) is rather smaller and exhibits much more of a yellowish- 
chestnut tint: she assumes a distinct breeding-plumage early in 
May, and has a complete moult in autumn. The young moult 
completely in their first autumn. 
