GaUince 173 



scrubby localities. Yet it sometimes perches on trees, 

 as that bird constantly does, while many persons 

 consider them as merely different races of one and 

 the same species. The flight is very powerful, as 

 sportsmen know to their cost, and after breeding 

 Grouse are accustomed to gather in packs; the food 

 consists mainly of the tips or tender shoots of ling 

 {Galluna), which must therefore be regularly burnt to 

 ensure a constant supply of young growth. Otherwise 

 moors become " diseased." The diet is varied by 

 berries and seeds, especially, it appears, those of the 

 moor-rush {Juncus squarrosus). The alarm-note of the 

 male, " cok, cok," his " crow," and the hoarser call 

 of the female are matters of common knowledge to 

 those who visit our moors in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, 

 England north of Derbyshire, Shropshire, and Stafford- 

 shire. In Shetland, Surrey, Norfolk, and Suffolk the 

 bird has been introduced, but with little success except 

 in Suffolk near Mildenhall. Abroad the same may be 

 said of south Sweden and the west German frontier. 

 The nest, nearly always built in heather, is of the 

 slightest description ; the eight or more eggs are 

 yellowish with blackish, reddish, or purplish markings, 

 and are often very beautiful. In the Red Grouse, the 

 hen-bird is smaller and distinctly yellower, but in its 

 congener the Ptarmigan {L. mutus) the sexes are very 

 different. The cock in summer is grey and brown 

 with black lores and taU, the tip of the latter and the 

 belly being white. The hen is reddish buff with black 

 markings. But the wings in both are white, and the 

 birds turn entirely white in winter, except for the 

 tail and lores. The Willow Grouse does the same, but 

 has even the lores white. Moreover the Ptarmigan has 



