94 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



To see Grouse at their best the observer should 

 visit the moors in spring, when Nature is awakening 

 from the long sleep of winter, when the heather is 

 sprouting, and the packs are breaking up in prepara- 

 tion for the nesting season. Freedom from molesta- 

 tion for a few months has restored confidence in 

 the scared birds. No longer driven hither and 

 thither over hill and dale, they are settling down 

 quietly, and once more will suffer a near approach 

 without alarm ; for on warm days in spring, just 

 before they begin to nest, Grouse will sit closer than 

 at any other time of year. When pairing com- 

 mences they become restless, the cocks chasing the 

 hens on the wing with a sharp zig-zag flight like a 

 Snipe. 



Grouse are most plentiful in the zone between 

 looo feet and 1500 feet, and do not go much above 

 1700 feet. Spots where bilberries ripen, kept moist 

 by springs, and with a southerly exposure, attract 

 them in autumn, though they may be under a 

 northern ledge in spring. For their nests they like 

 broad shallow hollows with springs at the edges, and 

 a flat ridge at least on one side on which to crow and 

 sun themselves. They build also in the peat, in deep 

 stream courses. The nest, seven or eight inches, 

 across, is made of rushes or grass, with a few 

 feathers. The eggs, usually from seven to ten in 

 number, are handsomely mottled like the birds' own 

 feathers with reddish-brown and buff, a style of 

 colouration which favours their concealment from 

 most prying eyes, save those of the Hoodie Crow and 

 the Rook, which persistently hunt for them. 



