BLACK GROUSE. 127 
BLACK GROUSE. 
TerRao TeTrix, Linn. 
Pl. XVIIL, fig. 7. 
Geogr. distr.—From Scandinavia to Spain and Italy, extending 
eastwards through Siberia to China: in Great Britain it is more 
numerous in the north than the south, occurring in most parts of 
Scotland. 
Food.—Corn, berries, heath, buds, pine leaves, and insects. 
Nest.—A mere depression scratched in the earth by the hen, and 
lined with fragments of heather, bracken and leaves. 
Position of nest.—In retired spots in heather, in newly-planted 
ground, in hedge-rows, or under bushes. 
Number of eggs.—8-10. 
Time of nidification.—lV. 
A polygamous species, the hens making advances in the 
early morning. It is easily domesticated, and has been 
known to breed with the barn-door fowl. As with the Caper- 
caillie, it chooses certain localities in which to pair. These 
are locally known as “‘ laking places,” the meaning of the 
word being apparently represented in vulgar parlance by 
the slightly altered word ‘‘larking”; any way, here the 
males congregate and fight for the hens, which are 
attracted thither by their love-call. Dixon says that, 
“Throughout the laying-season the Blackcock is a noisy 
and pugnacious creature; and, once the full complement 
of eggs is deposited by the female, he quits her society 
probably for ever, leaving her to hatch and rear her brood 
unaided.”’ 
In addition to the Common Fowl, the Blackcock has been 
known to cross with the Capercaillie, the Red Grouse, the 
Willow Grouse, the Hazel Grouse, and even the Pheasant. 
Mr. Howard Saunders writes: ‘‘The increase of popula- 
tion, the enclosure of wastes, and the drainage of boggy 
lands, have combined to curtail the area over which the 
Black Grouse formerly roamed in the south of England.” 
He then mentions the following counties in which it is still 
to be found—Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, Sussex, Wilt- 
shire, Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, Devon and Cornwall; 
also in Brecon, Radnorshire, and some other Welsh 
counties; in Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Nottingham- 
shire, ‘‘north of which they are found—although locally, 
and in some cases owing to introduction—in every county 
in England.—(Yarrell’s Hist. Brit. Birds, 4th ed., vol. iii., 
pp. 61, 62.) 
