Family PHASIANID^. Genus Lagopus. 



Subfamily Tetraonin^e. 



RED GROUSE. 



LAGOPUS SCOTICUS— (5mj-(?«). 



Geographical Distribution.— -5«V«i/^ .• Confined to the 

 British Islands, where it inhabits the wild moorland districts 

 throughout Great Britain and Ireland, except those counties of 

 England that lie south and east of a line drawn from Bristol to 

 Hull. Although inhabiting the Hebrides and the Orkneys, it is 

 absent from the Shetlands. Foreign: No extra-British dis- 

 tribution. 



Allied Forms. — Lagopus albus, Continental representative, 

 an inhabitant of the tundras above the pine region in the willow 

 and birch zones of Arctic Europe, Asia, and America. Differs 

 from the Red Grouse in having a white winter dress, and in 

 having the primaries and secondaries white at all seasons. 



Time during which the Red Grouse may be taken.— 



August 1 2th to December loth. 



Habits. — British sportsmen may well pride themselves on the 

 exclusive possession of such a thorough Game Bird and true 

 sport-furnishing species as the Red Grouse, or Moor Fowl. It is 

 one of the most sedentary of Game Birds, and never wanders from 

 its native heath except under very exceptional circumstances. 

 The great haunts of the Red Grouse are the vast expanses of 

 heath-clothed waste that stretch in almost one unbroken line from 

 Wales to the Orkneys and Shetlands. This district is wild and 

 romantic enough, and the great diversity of its physical aspect 

 counteracts the impression of monotonousness that the sameness 

 of the vegetation which clothes them is apt to inspire. Hills and 

 dales, vast plateaux, swamps, lakes, and streams, ridges and peaks 

 break the surface of the moors, and patches of coarse grass, dense 



