A KING IN HIS GLORY. 
73 
of them are said to migrate every year down to Strath Tay, 
Blair Athol, Dunkeld, and the woods about CriefF. So that 
the noble enterprise of Lord Breadalbane has been crowned 
with deserved success, and the king of game birds is again 
restored to his hereditary dominions ; and * the right royal 
gunnery/ as * Craven' terms it, is likely, ere long, to be 
enjoyed by the sportsman who visits the northern moors, 
and hills, and woods wherein pines stretch away on every 
side like stately columns ; and the light-leafed larches 
whisper to the passing gales, that play with the tresses of 
the silver-rined birches, and set the lady-ferns dancing 
around the margin of the haunted well. 
Did our readers ever, when 
Admiring Nature in her wildest mood,' 
amid such scenes as these, observe this splendid bird, in his 
rich dress of black, brown, and grey, beautifully shaded, 
and tinged with a line glossy golden green ? Over each 
large, full, flashing eye is a distinct red arch ; the short, 
stout, conical bill, characteristic of the Grouse family, is of 
a pale horn-colour ; the legs, like those of all its congeners, 
are very thick and strong, and covered with brownish-grey 
feathers ; the toes and claws are black. This is the plumage 
of the. adult cock, which is not in perfection until the third 
year. The adult female has a brown beak, hazel irides ; 
the head, neck, back, wings, and upper tail-coverts and 
feathers are dark brown, with yellowish freckles and bars; 
the front of the neck and breast are a pale chestnut, the 
feathers of the latter being margined with black, and edged 
with grey ; on the flanks and under tail-coverts, this edging 
becomes broader and lighter ; the legs, toes, and claws are 
all brown. Such is the queen of the woods. She is gene- 
rally about twenty-six inches long. The royal scions of 
both sexes resemble her until after the first moult, when 
the young cocks begin to put on the male attire. 
But, if you want to see the Cock-o'-the-woods in all his 
glory, you should visit him in the month of February, 
when the pine-tree boughs are yet bending beneath their 
load of snow. There he sits, high up, out of reach, with 
his neck outstretched, the feathers of his head erected like 
