THE COMMON BLACK GKOtJSE. 
15^ 
qiitslie<!, the noble full-drei^HP'd bhrkcock takes his 
Ktand, rnmmencirigat first dawn; ajid wht-re iht game 
5s abuiHlantf the liill <hi every side repeats tht? imirmur- 
iiij; call, almost brfore die uttertfrH can he distin- 
jriuslitd. Tliey Rtrul anmncl ihv spot selected, tniiliiig 
tlu'ir wingH, inflating the ihroat and neck, and puffing 
iij) the pl(imaM;e at those parfs, ami ttie iioiv hrilliarit 
Kfltili; aliovtr the eyi'A, raising' and (>xpanding their lail^ 
Hiifplaying the beaultfullv contrasting white under- 
c<ivi»rs, aiid iinitating, as it were, the attitudes of & 
little imkey-cofk, lie is soon heard hy the femalea, 
who crowd around their lord and master. 
TliiH season of admiration does not 1 on continue 
the females disperse to seek proper situaiions for de- 
fiositiriif^ their e*^s, while the males, losing their 
feelinsy for love and fighting at lUe eatne time, reas- 
6emhle in small pnrtie^, and Keek tlie .^heller of the 
bruHli antl fern bedsi to complete a ne^v moult, and 
are nelilom smi except early in tlie morninif, hying 
now the vfry reviTHe in stupidity to what llipy were 
formerly in vigilance- The sexes continue separate 
unlil the winter, when itie old males join with the 
young broods, and all resort, morning and evenings 
lf» some favonrile feeding grounds, spending the 
middle of the day in basking^ plumingt or sport- 
ing upon some sunny hillHicie. Upon the femalea 
devolve the whole iluiieH of rearinrr and protecting 
the young, llie nest is miide on the grount! like 
that of the other }^rou^et and wlieii hatched the 
young; are conveyed to the low rushy lioliows, where 
