RED GROUSE 
caillie, this bird does not pair ; in spring-time the 
Blackcocks assemble in the early morning and 
compete for the hens with strange posturings and 
cries. Several hens mate with one cock, each 
hollowing a shallow nesting-place in the ground 
among the heather and rough scrubby vegetation ; 
seven to nine is the usual number of the eggs, 
which are rich yellow or yellowish-white in ground- 
colour, spotted with yellowish-brown. These birds 
feed on the shoots and seeds of various moorland 
and woodland plants, as well as on barley, and 
different kinds of berries. Large numbers of 
Black-game, as also of Capercaillie, are exported 
to England from Russia and Scandinavia, and may 
be seen at all times of year in poulterers' and 
game-dealers' shops. 
RED GROUSE. 
{Lagopus scoticus,) 
Grouse, Red Grouse, Moor-fowl. — The Red 
Grouse is remarkable as the only British bird 
which is found nowhere else but in these islands. 
Its Continental representative is the Willow Grouse, 
known in Norway as the Ryper (properly " skov- 
ryper "—the " fjeld-ryper " is the Ptarmigan), and 
