Dec. 7, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



579 



Natural 3$fatorg* 



GROUSE. 

 Hardly any wild birds are so familiar as the grouse, 

 and no others equal them in economic value. These 

 are surely good reasons for a glance at their natural 

 history, which will be found to lead to questions of some 

 theoretic interest. 



Four species of grouse occur in the British Islands. 

 Two belong to the genus Tetrao of modern systematists, 

 and two to Lagopus. The red grouse (L. Scoticus) 

 inhabits Scotland, North England, Wales, and Ireland ; 

 the ptarmigan (L, alpimts) is found in Scotland only ; 

 the black cock (T. tctrix), whose female is the grey hen, 

 occurs in parts of England, Wales, and Scotland ; while 



..ne peri 

 yec been obser 

 '■^'btful whethe 



was formerly written termagant. The initial / is 

 entirely superfluous, having been added, like the n in 

 newt, the s of scratch, and the d of thunder, in the days 

 when every man spelt as he thought emphasis required. 

 A convenient English phraseology would be attained if 

 we could use the descriptive epithets of red, snow, heath, 

 and wood grouse, to denote the red grouse, the ptarmigan, 

 the black cock, and the capercaillie respectively, but the 

 innovation is perhaps too bold to be entertained. 



The most obvious peculiarity of the grouse is the 

 feathered feet, which distinguish them from their nearest 

 allies the partridges, and if we consider native species 

 only, this is a sufficient mark. Grouse are rough-footed, 

 gallinaceous birds. Of internal peculiarities, the most 

 curious is the enormous length of the caeca of the large 

 intestine. If we examine the beginning of the large 



Black Cock {Lagopus tctrix). 



the capercaillie (T. urogallus), formerly native to Scotland 

 and Ireland, after becoming completely extinct in both 

 countries, was reintroduced some fifty years ago from 

 Sweden to Taymouth, where it continues to flourish and 

 gain ground. Scotland, it will be observed, enjoys all 

 four of these valuable birds, England possesses two, and 

 Ireland one. 



Three of the species found here have a considerable 

 foreign range in northern or Alpine regions, but the red 

 grouse, alone among birds, is peculiar to our islands. 

 Quite recently its range has been artificially extended by 

 Oscar Dickson, who has succeeded in establishing a 

 colony at Gottenburg, in Sweden, but the ultimate result 

 of this experiment is still to be waited for. 



Our rude English nomenclature ignores all natural 

 affinity, and even etymology. Grouse, in some old 

 writings spelt grice, is perhaps " brown " (Fr. gris). 

 Ptarmigan is believed to be the Gaelic larmachan, and 



intestine of a pigeon, we find a pair of little sacs about a 

 quarter-inch long ; in the fowl they are about four inches 

 long, and dilated at the ends; in the red grouse each is 

 a yard long, and its inter- " surface is greatly extended 

 by eight longitudinal folds. These appendages are filled 

 with a sort of chyme, extracted from the food by the aid 

 of the digestive juices, and their relative size appears to 

 bear some relation to the nutritive value of the food. 

 Where a given bulk of the ordinary food of the species 

 yields a small amount of nourishment, as is the case 

 with the heather-buds upon which the grouse feeds, the 

 caeca are, as we have seen, of enormous length. 



Grouse of the genus Lagopus usually change their 

 plumage towards winter. The mottled brown of summer 

 gives place to grey, and this to snowy white. As spring 

 comes on the birds resume the summer plumage, which 

 is also their wedding dress. In the ptarmigan this 

 change is effected by a triple moult, which is not only 



