Birds of Britain 



west of England, but in some of its other English haunts, 

 notably the New Eorest, it has died out. 



Like the Capereaillie, they are polygamous, and gather 

 together in spring, the cocks fighting and showing off in a 

 variety of evolutions to the hens. Eventually each cock 

 retires with his hens, and breeding commences in earnest. 

 The nest is merely a scrape in the heather or on the out- 

 skirts of a wood, and the eggs, generally ten in number, are 

 yellowish, spotted with reddish brown. The young feed chiefly 

 on insects, but when adult, grain, berries, and the tender 

 shoots of many plants constitute their diet. In autumn 

 they visit the harvest-fields in large numbers at daybreak 

 and dusk. The adult male is bluish black all over, with 

 white under tail coverts and a white wing bar. Length 

 22 in. ; wing 10*5 in. The female, usually known as the 

 " Greyhen," is of a warm brown, barred and marked with 

 black. 



THE RED GROUSE 



Lagopus scoticus (Latham) 



This is the only exclusively British species which is 

 found nowhere else — if we except the local races of many 

 of the smaller birds, which can only be distinguished on a 

 very close examination. Our Grouse differs from the 

 "Eyper" of Norway, which is its nearest ally, by its black 

 primaries, and in the fact that it does not assume a white 

 dress in winter. 



It inhabits moorlands from the limit of heather growth 

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