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in the mountainous portions of Liguria, but elsewhere accidental;" and Savi says that it "has 

 but rarely been obtained in the Apennines, and altogether Tuscany is not suited to its habits." 

 Doderlein records it as accidental in Modenese. 



In Greece it does not appear to occur ; but in Southern Germany it is common in suitable 

 localities. Mr. L. Stejneger refers to it as not uncommon in Meran, in the Southern Tyrol. 

 Seidensacher records it as found, but by no means common, in the Bacher mountains of Styria ; 

 the Bitter von Tschusi Schmidhofen as common in Austria. In Bohemia, Fritsch writes, " it has 

 a wider range than the Capercaillie." He saw it in the willow-growth on the Elbe, near Brandeis, 

 in the autumn ; and it occurs at Kuchelbad and Komoran, near Prague. The game-list shows 

 that in 1857 2300 head were killed in Bohemia, and in 1864 1336. Albinoes are not unfre- 

 quently obtained, and are said to occur regularly in one particular part of the Bohmerwald. 

 Count Casmir Wodzicki writes that " it is rare in the Carpathians, but is by no means uncommon 

 in the low woods of the Tatra mountains, and is resident in the almost impenetrable thickets, 

 only coming out to the bare spots amongst the rocks during the pairing-season." In Southern 

 Russia it does not appear to occur so far south as the Crimea ; but it is certainly found as far 

 south as Ekaterinburg. 



To the eastward it occurs through Siberia as far as China. Dr. Radde met with it breeding 

 in the mountains of the Island of Ochon. In the winter of 1857-58 numbers were observed on 

 the islands of the Amoor and eastward to about 150 versts from the mouth of the Ussuri. In 

 the summer they were rare in the Bureja mountains, and also near the mouth of the Dseja. 

 Von Middendorff observed them rarely on the Jenesei in 67° N. lat., and in 69° lost sight of them. 

 In the Stanowoi mountains they were numerous from Jakutsk to the Little Aim, but from that 

 river to Udskoi-Ostrog not a single one was seen ; and he was told that the black game did not 

 come from the Aldan. Nor did he find them on the shores of the sea of Ochotsk, or on the 

 boundary mountains of the Stanowoi, but he heard that they were found on the Jorach, in 

 Mantchuria. He himself saw a few on the Nara, in Mantchuria, and was assured that to the 

 south of that they were common in the morasses, but not met with on the southern slope of the 

 boundary mountains. Dr. von Schrenck, confirming the above statements, says that he never 

 saw it on the Lower Amoor, or the island of Saghalien ; but west of the Bureja mountains the 

 Bizar natives described a Grouse to him which could be no other than the present species. 

 Mr. Swinhoe records it from China, without giving further particulars, and on the. authority of 

 Pere David as occurring in Northern China. 



The Black Grouse is an inhabitant of the heath-covered moors and woods, frequenting more 

 especially (as may be inferred from its German appellation Birkhahn, or " Birchcock ") the birch 

 growth. With us in Scotland it frequents the moors ; but in Scandinavia I have more usually 

 met with it on the outskirts of the mixed conifer and non-evergreen forests and in the bush- 

 covered swamps. It is, comparatively speaking, a shy bird, more especially so in localities where 

 it is exposed to persecution during the shooting-season. In Norway, Mr. Collett informs me, " it 

 prefers tracts where conifer growth is interspersed with non-evergreen trees and traversed by 

 brooks ; but it avoids the most desolate parts of the pine-woods, which latter the Capercaillie 

 affects. They usually pass the day on the ground ; and only in winter, when the snow covers the 

 ground, do they feed in the trees. 



