...^ _^^.._..^. BLACKGAME iii 



suited to them, or they did not find the sort of food 

 they like — cotton grass, heather shoots, buds of the 

 bog myrtle, seeds of the rush (only to be found on 

 low-lying boggy ground), catkins of the alder, 

 berries of the rowan tree and juniper, leaves of 

 polypodium, oats, and acorns. Where all or most 

 ■of these are to be found Blackgame ought to do 

 well, if there are also birch, larch, and fir plantations 

 at hand. But foxes have to be reckoned with, and 

 in parts of the country where they are more or less 

 preserved for hunting they sadly interfere with the 

 rearing of Blackgame. From other causes these 

 fine birds have of late years become scarce even in 

 Scotland, where in some districts they were once 

 fairly plentiful. Sportsmen are apt to forget that 

 Blackcocks are polygamous, and that there should 

 always be at least three times as many hens as 

 there are cocks. They shoot too many of the 

 former, which, being much less wary, and keeping 

 with their broods in the early part of the season, 

 are more readily approached and afford easy shots 

 at close quarters. Another cause of decrease is the 

 number of barren hens that may be seen every year. 

 From close observation of them in the breeding 

 season Mr Millais is inclined to think that the 

 period of fertility of the Greyhen is much shorter 

 than with other game birds, lasting only two or three 

 years, so that should indiscriminate shooting be 

 carried on, only a small percentage of breeding 

 birds are left to perpetuate their kind. One other 

 cause of decrease remains to be considered, namely, 

 that arising: from the introduction of Pheasants into 



