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In the northern portions of Scandinavia vast numbers of the Willow-Grouse and Ptarmigan 

 are snared and, after being frozen, are sent down to the larger towns by sledge-loads. To show 

 what numbers are thus transmitted, I may name that when travelling from Stockholm to Lulea 

 I frequently met several sledge-loads together on the high road ; and one day I counted no less 

 than thirty sledges, each of which would contain about a couple of thousand birds. Unlike our 

 Scotch Grouse the Willow-Grouse frequently perches on trees ; and during severe weather I have 

 not unfrequently seen them on the birch trees feeding on the buds, and have been assured that 

 the male often perches on the top of a tree during the pairing-season. The present species 

 passes the night on the ground, during the winter often seeking shelter and warmth in a snow- 

 drift ; but they appear seldom to be deeply embedded in it, being easily flushed. During the 

 winter it feeds on tender shoots of the dwarf birch, common birch, and willow, and in the 

 autumn on berries of various sorts which flourish so abundantly on the low grounds of Northern 

 Europe, such as the blueberry, cranberry, crowberry, cloudberry, and that most delicious of 



O 



northern berries when preserved, the so-called " Akerbar" (Ricbus arcticus, a sort of raspberry), 

 which creeps over the ground in the high north. In the summer it lives on the seeds of various 

 wild grasses and the leaves and tender shoots of various bushes and plants. 



Mr. Barth, a well-known and most reliable Norwegian sportsman, has published (J. f. O. 

 1869, pp. 87-92) some excellent notes on the Willow-Grouse, from which I extract a few par- 

 ticulars, as follow : — The present species is, he says, found only where the birch tree is abundant ; 

 and plains where only the dwarf birch and willow are found are not suitable to it, as it 

 cannot live in localities where the cover is poor, but requires birch-thickets ; thus it is rare or 

 common, according as the birch-growth is distributed. Where larger birch-woods and birch- 

 thickets are found alternately and juniper bushes are scattered here and there, are its favourite 

 haunts ; for here it finds good cover during the seasons when it is changing its plumage. The 

 female deposits from eight to eighteen and even twenty eggs, early or late, according to the 

 elevation inhabited by the bird. Mr. Barth found newly hatched young in July, and eggs as late 

 as the middle of August. The young birds can fly when eight days old, at which age they are 

 about as large as a Lark. The parent bird tends them with the greatest care, and when sur- 

 prised with them will not desert them, but may often be approached near enough to be knocked 

 down with a stick. When about four weeks old the young are as large as a Plover, and are then 

 considered old enough to shoot. They lie very close, and scatter after being flushed, and are thus 

 easily procured with the aid of a good dog. In August they grow very quickly, and by the end 

 of the month they are full-grown. It appears that when small they not unfrequently lose their 

 parents, but are then taken care of by others ; and not seldom as many as thirty individuals of 

 various ages are found in one covey. Until late in September the coveys remain in the localities 

 where they have bred, and can be approached ; but later than that they pack and resort to the 

 mountains, and gradually get into the regions where the tree-growth ceases. They are then 

 unapproachable, and a quick shot only can get an odd bird out of a pack of about five hundred. 

 Mr. Barth speaks of a pack of about three thousand individuals which he saw between the 3rd 

 and 10th of November. Curiously enough they are sometimes much less shy than at others ; and 

 Mr. Barth cannot account for this, except that the weather may to some extent be the cause. He 

 remarks that during the winter they not unfrequently feed at night, and from the middle of 



