246 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



mottled with reddish-brown, almost black on sides of head, 

 and part of back ; feathers of head and neck mottled, and 

 many of them edged with white ; upper part of back mottled 

 over with yellowish-red or light brown, with here and there 

 a feather nearly black ; scapulars, greater and lesser wing 

 coverts, are many of them tipped with white ; primaries 

 brown, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, -mottled on the outer 

 web with white ; secondaries mottled with reddish-brown, 

 and tipped with white. 



Tail black, of eighteen feathers, like black grouse ; the 

 red grouse having sixteen feathers. The four outer feathers 

 elongated and slightly curved outwards ; fourth feather very 

 slightly longer than the others ; two central feathers of tail 

 mottled over with reddish-brown, and edged with white 

 across the point of feather ; upper tail coverts dark brown, 

 mottled with reddish-brown, and slightly tipped with white. 



Below, breast nearly black ; feathers of abdomen slightly 

 mottled with reddish-brown, and many of them broadly 

 tipped with white ; vent white ; under tail coverts brown, 

 broadly tipped with white ; under surface of wings, and axil- 

 laries white. 



Legs closely covered all round with white and grey 

 feathers, like red grouse, which also cover the toes for half 

 their length (excluding the claws) ; toes covered above with 

 transverse seutellaB, on each side of which are a row of 

 square-shaped scales, and beyond this a fringe or margin of 

 more linear pectiniform scales— as in black grouse. 



This bird was shot in a w T ild state with other grouse in 

 the neighbourhood of Midcalder, about the 10th or 12th of 

 November, its peculiar appearance having attracted atten- 

 tion ; and has been preserved by Mr Small, George Street. 



Yarrell mentions that hybrids between the Blackcock 

 and Eed Grouse, have been suspected by naturalists, but 

 does not appear to have seen any of them ; he refers to 

 Macgillivray's "British Birds" for a notice of three speci- 

 mens believed to be birds of this kind, one of which he ex- 

 amined in the flesh, and describes in detail. Through the 

 ^kindness of one of our members, William Smellie Watson, 

 Esq., R.S.A., I am enabled to exhibit this bird, which is in 



