206 HAZEL GROUSE^ 



Herr Von Wright, it is found up as high as Kengis, 

 (67° 10',) and even as high as Mounioniska. It is 

 common in most parts of Wermerland." 



"It frequents old thick forests, as Avell as young 

 plantations of birch and pine mixed, and I think this 

 is much owing to the season of the year. With us 

 it is generally found in old fir forests with stony rises, 

 and often at the foot of rocks in the aln and birch 

 woods. In summer they appear to frequent leafy 

 plantations, and with the fall of the leaf they with- 

 draw into the fir forests, where they remain through 

 the winter, only making occasional migrations into the 

 nearest birch woods to feed on the catkins of the 

 birch, which at this season forms their principal, and, 

 I think, their only nourishment, for I never by any 

 chance find any fir shoots in their crops, as I do in 

 those of the Capercaillie. They appear always to be 

 on the ground, and only fly up into a fir tree when 

 they are flushed. Their flight is noisy and bustling, 

 and they never go far. I never find them by any 

 chance in the open, like the Black Grouse." 



"They live in a state of monogamy, and with us 

 the pairing takes place about the same time as that of 

 the Capercaillie or Black Grouse. The note is a soft 

 rather melancholy pipe, which can be readily imitated 

 by a Hjerpe whistle made of bone or quill. The 

 call-note rather resembles £ li, li, titititi-ti.' The note 

 of the male is stronger than that of the female. By 

 this note, which we always hear from the ground, the 

 sexes carry on their spring conversation, and in the 

 autumn the mother uses the same kind of language to 

 her young. As soon as the pairing is over the sexes 

 divide. The males keep then single, and you never 

 see three or four together. The female lays as many 



