WILLOW GROUSE. 
2ir) 
Avliicli much resembles ‘errackackackkah.’ They do not 
generally fly far, and when they settle they usually 
utter the note of ‘kawau, kawau.’ The female generally 
rises silently, or with a faint ‘hjan, hjan.’ As soon as 
the young birds are hatched you see the families 
together; and in the breeding season the male is never 
far from the nest where the old female is sitting. As 
winter comes on they pack, and deep snow and hard 
frost sometimes drives them down into the regions that 
lie below the fells. 
They pair about the end of May, but sometimes as 
early as April. At about one in the morning the male 
commences his love song with a loud ‘prrr-pack-prrr,’ 
and a deeper ‘kawau, kawau.’ The female answers 
with a finer ‘hjan, hjan,’ and the two draw together, 
and the male is very easily shot now by the poacher, 
who is hidden behind a rock or bush, and decoys 
him within shot by an imitation of the call-note of 
the female. The bird comes on by short flights, and 
runs within shot, sometimes stands still, raises up his 
tail spread out like a fan, flaps his wings against his 
legs, throws his neek back, and answers with his hoarse 
‘kawau, kawau.’ 
The female lays ten or twelve eggs, without any 
nest, in the heather, but generally under a bush, or 
by the stump of an old fir. The male keeps watch 
while she is sitting to drive away any birds of prey 
that may approach the spot, and so bold is he at this 
time that he has even been seen to drive away a fox. 
After they are hatched, both the old ones attend the 
covey. When the young ones are frightened u^i they 
scream out much like young chickens, and separating 
cast themselves among the bushes or heather, and then 
sit so close that they can be easily picked up by the hand. 
