BIRDS 327 



Order GALLINJE. Fam. TETRAONIDJE. 



BLACK GEOUSE. 



Tetrao tetrix, L. 



The Black Grouse does not appear to have been appropriated 

 to heraldic purposes in the same way as Eed Grouse, but 

 Singleton observed in 1677 that one of the four coats-of-arms 

 then existing in the ancient manor-house at Melmerby showed 

 'three blacke cocks and the crossbow between them ; ' the 

 latter part of the note affording us a pleasant reminder as to 

 the appliances of sport in vogue before the fowling-piece came 

 into general use. Sandford about the same date referred to the 

 existence of black game at Naworth. Evidence of the com- 

 parative abundance of this game on the English borders early 

 in the seventeenth century is supplied by the Accounts of Lord 

 William Howard. Black game did not appear at his table in 

 the same abundance as ' Grouse/ but in some seasons there was 

 plenty of it nevertheless. Analysing the game purchased for the 

 Naworth household from August 1618 to the end of that year, 

 I find that one hundred and twenty head of black game were 

 bought in during the last five months of the year. The quantity 

 of Bed Grouse consumed during the same period amounted to 

 seventy-two brace and a half. The prices paid were sixpence 

 for a Black Cock, fourpence for a Grey Hen, and threepence for 

 a Grouse. 



This species long continued to be numerous on our northern 

 confines. A sale advertisement of ' The Manor of Bewcastle,' 

 published in 1829, tells us that (in spite of recent enclosures), 

 of 17,000 acres, 8300 acres consisted of 'unenclosed wastes 

 abounding with black game and Grouse.' 1 The district in 

 question still contains a fair sprinkling of this game, though of 

 course black game have decreased generally of late years. Dr. 

 Heysham, whose knowledge of Cumberland related especially 

 to the north of the county, tells us that this game was scarce. 

 A few grey hens then nested, as they sometimes do still, on the 

 Solway Flow. There was generally ' an annual brood upon 

 Newtown common within a mile of Carlisle.' Thirty years 

 1 Carlisle Journal, May 9, 1829. 



