404 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



also fly up into the tops of their trees, if not always into the 

 top bough. 



April 15th. — Up at 3 and went with the forester to the Black- 

 cock lek, where he left me. I did not go into the shelter, but 

 sat under a small fir-tree on the ridge, which commanded a much 

 better view. From about 4, when it was still dark, the birds 

 were noisy, first the rookling or whirbling note from the trees 

 around the open space, and then, from the ground, apparently, 

 those curious, loud, angry notes, having a sort of wheezing, 

 whishing or sneezing sound in them, intensified sometimes, 

 during the excited " dance," as I have myself heard, before 

 now, into a sort of hiss. The best rendering of the note I can 

 give on paper is "to-whash" or " to-whay." It comes very 

 suddenly and scrapily out of the gloom. Mingled with this I 

 now hear, from time to time, a softer, quite different note, which 

 may possibly be that of the hen ; but it is impossible for me to 

 see anything, and this is mere conjecture. 



A. little before 4.30 there is a pause, both the " to-whashing " 

 or " to-whaying" note— this last, I think, is nearer — from the 

 ground, and the " rookling " one from the surrounding trees, 

 cease, and with this it becomes gradually light. The place 

 seems entirely deserted, and it is only in the distance, over a 

 wide stretch of country, that I hear the latter occasionally. 



The stillness now, at 5, is striking. 



It is now 5.15, and, for some time, I have not caught the 

 faintest note of a Blackcock. It seems as though there was a 

 short space of nuptial activity amongst the birds, the first thing 

 in the morning before light, and then, with the coming of day- 

 light, a long pause. 



5.25. — The whirbling now in evidence again, but very 

 slightly. 



At 5.45 a Blackcock comes sailing, like a Pheasant with 

 spread wings, across the open space, and settles in a fir, just 

 skirting it. He sits there erect, on its very top, his head held 

 well up, as though listening for any impudent rooklings. Now 

 they begin, but far off. He does not answer, and his first note 

 is that angry "to- " or "tir-whay" which I had connected with 

 the bird being on the ground, but proves now to be independent 

 of situation. Afterwards when three more males sit in firs 



