NOTES AND QUERIES. 107 



Mr. Suchetet, of Rouen, that he knows of ten or eleven more or less 

 authenticated cases of hybridism between the Red Grouse and Black- 

 game (but this is not one of them), one an undoubted example, bred 

 in captivity. As to the migrations of the Red Grouse, if Mr. Macpherson 

 has been " often asked to investigate " such phenomena, but has not done 

 so, by what process did he arrive at the opinion which he has expressed in 

 the volume on 'The Grouse,' that this bird does not migrate at all? 

 Almost every one in Alston knows of the regular appearance of the "York- 

 shire birds," as most people know of the arrival of the Swallows. And if 

 Mr. Macpherson would either pass a few days in Alston twice or thrice 

 during the season, and examine the birds sent in to the dealers, or would 

 go up with the owners or lessees of a few of the moors about there twice or 

 thrice in the season, and examine and weigh the birds killed at different 

 periods, he would certainly be in a position to give us some exact infor- 

 mation of the highest interest, without having recourse to tin labels, to 

 which there is likely to be considerable objection. I am tempted to add a 

 brief account of the movements of the birds on my uncle's moor at Alston. 

 There are two types of birds which breed there. The low-ground cocks are 

 a little over average size, and weigh about 26 oz. ; are very red-coloured, 

 with but little black ground colour on the under parts, and that chiefly 

 confined to the lower belly; have hardly any white tips; the white 

 moustache hardly visible. The hens are very handsome, dark, boldly 

 marked, with large golden spots (tips) on the back ; weight about 23 oz. 

 On higher ground the larger "fell-top birds" are met with, weighing 

 (cocks) 28-30 oz. ; much blacker in ground colour, and with a great deal of 

 white on the throat, wings, and under parts generally; the hens about 

 24 oz., dark, and a good deal ticked with white. In the earlier part of the 

 season these are the two types met with, the former on the low ground, the 

 latter on the hill-tops and rockier ground. But after the end of October — 

 or a little later according to the season — the first or low-ground type seems 

 to vanish mostly, probably to fells lower down (but as to this I know 

 nothing for certain), while the fell-top birds descend to take their place. In 

 addition a very large number of smaller Grouse appear, in big packs, all, or 

 nearly all, females. I cannot say that I have ever handled a male. These 

 are well known in the neighbourhood as " Yorkshire birds," and are 

 believed to come from the Duke of Cleveland's Yorkshire moors, some 

 twenty miles off. They are much lighter in colour than the native hens, 

 so much so that they are readily recognised on the wing. They are very 

 yellow in tint, very "speckly " — that is, the markiugs are, by comparison, 

 much less bold, and tho contrast of colours much less striking than in the 

 other two types. The two which I have as skins weighed, when freshly 

 shot, 19 oz. and 20£ oz. respectively. I should say that the former, or a 

 trifle more, is about the average weight — that is to say, some three ounces 



