36 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS chap. 



most desperate battles. I have seen five or six blackcocks all 

 fighting at once, and so intent and eager were they, that I 

 approached within a few yards before they rose. Usually 

 there seems to be a master-bird in these assemblages, who 

 takes up his position on the most elevated spot, crowing and 

 strutting round and round with spread-out tail like a turkey- 

 cock, and his wings trailing on the ground. The hens remain 

 quietly near him, whilst the smaller or younger male birds keep at 

 a respectful distance, neither daring to crow, except in a sub- 

 dued kind of voice, nor to approach the hens. If they attempt 

 the latter, the master-bird dashes at the intruder, and often a 

 short melee ensues, several others joining in it, but they soon 

 return to their former respectful distance. I have also seen an 

 old blackcock crowing on a birch-tree with a dozen hens below 

 it, and the younger cocks looking on in fear and admiration. 

 It is at these times that numbers fall to the share of the 

 poacher, who knows that the birds resort to the same spot 

 every morning. 



Strong as the blackcock is, he is often killed by the pere- 

 grine falcon and the hen-harrier. When pursued by. these 

 birds, I have known the blackcock so frightened as to allow 

 himself to be taken by the hand. I once caught one myself 

 who had been driven by a falcon into the garden, where he 

 took refuge under a gooseberry bush and remained quiet till I 

 picked him up. I kept him for a day or two, and then, as he 

 did not get reconciled to his prison, I turned him loose to try 

 his fortune again in the woods. Like some other wary birds, 

 the blackcock, when flushed at a distance, if you happen to be 

 in his line of flight, will pass over your head without turning 

 off, as long as you remain motionless. In some places, appa- 

 rently well adapted for these birds, they will never increase, 

 although left undisturbed and protected, some cause or other 

 preventing their breeding. Where they take well to a place, 

 they increase very rapidly, and, from their habit of taking 

 long flights, soon find out the corn-fields, and are very de- 

 structive, more so, probably, than any other kind of winged 

 game. 



A bold bird by nature, the blackcock when in confinement, 

 is easily tamed, and soon becomes familiar and attached to his 

 master. In the woods instances are known of the blackcock 



