6258 



Birds, 



parish two miles distant from my residence, I saw the grouse in packs 

 of thirty or forty each. Up to two or three days before they had 

 been seen in pairs, and that too, as I have just said, from before the 

 commencement of the year. I remarked to an acquaintance I met 

 with as I descended from the moor, — We shall get some hard 

 weather now : I saw the grouse packed as I came across the moor." 

 And surely the frost and snow did come, and in earnest. It was 

 some time after this before the final pairing, that which was destined 

 not to be again interrupted, took place ; perhaps, fully three weeks. 

 During the whole of this interval the partridges continued paired. 

 I think it was on the 5th of February, a bitter cold day, with several 

 inches of snow on the ground, I went down the beck, thinking it not 

 improbable I might fall in with a duck or two. In the course of my 

 walk I saw or came upon the traces of fourteen several pairs of 

 partridges ; and neither on that day nor on any other during the con- 

 tinuance of the cold weather did I see more or less than two together. 

 Once, about a week later, while the snow was still lying thick on the 

 ground, I saw the footmarks of three together ; but I did not see the 

 birds themselves, and should have little doubt that they were three 

 " old bachelors." 



During the pairing-time fierce fights between the male birds are of 

 continual occurrence, and one can scarcely set foot on the moor with- 

 out seeing signs of conflict. One of the most common is one cock 

 pursuing another with eager pertinacity ; and so absorbed are both in 

 the passions of the moment that not unfrequently they cross once and 

 again in close proximity to the spectator, in the course of their rapid 

 wheeling flight, without appearing to heed his presence. When the 

 spring is somewhat more advanced the grouse may be seen close to 

 the road-side, and they are then seldom much disturbed by the 

 passage of the traveller. Sometimes they do not take wing at all, 

 and their flight, if they take one, is seldom to any distance. They 

 are in full plumage at such times, and the beautiful crimson crest of 

 the male is very conspicuous, and very fully displayed as he stands 

 with his head up and his eye on the passer-by. The short flights of 

 the male are also usually terminated by an upward movement of a few 

 feet, and the utterance of his peculiar note or " crow" as he alights 

 on some little hillock or other eminence on the surface of the water. 



The number of eggs laid by the grouse is much less than in the 

 case of the partridge. It may also be remarked that it is consider- 

 ably more diflScult to ascertain the number of a brood of grouse than 

 in the case of a covey of partridges. The latter commonly all rise 



