38 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



dry grass, or dead leaves. The Eed Grouse is a rather early breeder, birds on 

 sheltered low ground going to nest early in April, but those inhabiting higher and 

 more exposed districts are several vs'eeks later. The state of the season also 

 considerably affects the time of laying; and sometimes a late fall of snow will 

 overtake the brooding or laying birds and cause great mischief. The eggs, too, 

 vary considerably in number in different years. If wet and cold, the clutches vary 

 from five to nine eggs; if warm and dry, twelve or fifteen are frequently found. 

 They are creamy-white in ground-colour, very thickly spotted and blotched with 

 rich reddish-brown, in some cases almost crimson-brown. The colouring matter 

 is easily rubbed from newly-laid eggs, and during wet weather the feet of the 

 sitting bird spoil much of their beauty. They are, on an average, 1'8 inch in 

 length by 1"25 inch in breadth. The Eed Grouse is a close sitter, and will remain 

 brooding until almost trodden upon. The female performs the entire duties of 

 incubation, which lasts twenty-four days ; but when the young are hatched both 

 parents assist in tending them. The young broods are generally led by their 

 parents to the wettest parts of the moors, doubtless for the sake of some particular 

 kind of food. One brood only is reared in the season, but if the first clutch of 

 eggs be destroyed it is usually replaced by another of smaller number. 



Diagnostic characters. — Lagopus, with the primaries uniform dark 

 brown. Length, 14 to 16 inches. Hybrids are occasionally found between this 

 Grouse and the Black Cock, and sometimes, it is said, the Ptarmigan; whilst 

 Mr. J. G. Millais has recorded and figured (Game Birds pp. 43-62) a hybrid 

 between the Eed Grouse and a Bantam Fowl. More or less perfect albino Eed 

 Grouse have been recorded. For one of the most remarkable, conf. Zoologist, 

 1898, p. 126. 



Note. — The Red Grouse is a species subject to considerable variation in the colour of its 

 plumage. Mr. Ogilvie Grant, who has made a very exhaustive study of the question, states that 

 the male Grouse present three distinct types of plumage — a red form, a black form, and a white 

 spotted form. The first of these is principally confined to the low grounds of Ireland, the West 

 Coast of Scotland, and the Outer Hebrides. The second form appears to have no special locality^ 

 whilst the third form is found most emphasised on the high grounds of the North of Scotland. 

 In the female no less than five types are definable — the red, black, white-spotted, buff-spotted, and 

 buff-barred. Of these Mr. Grant states that the first two are the rarest; the white-spotted occurs 

 as in the male ; the fourth is the commonest and most usually met with ; whilst the fifth is found 

 in the South of Ireland. Another interesting peculiarity of this species is that both male and 

 female have two distinct moults in the year, but in the male they take place in autumn and winter, 

 and in the female in summer and autumn. The males have no distinct summer, and the females no 

 distinct winter, plumage, These changes of plumage have been exhaustively worked out by Mr. 

 Grant. (Conf. Annals of Scottish Nat. Hist. 1894, pp. 129-140, pis. v., vi.). 



