26 The Natural History of British Game Birds 
With the first warm rays of the March sun, the bellicose disposition of the Black- 
cock begins to assert itself, until by the beginning of April the martial fires can be 
subdued no longer and find a natural outlet in open warfare, when each adult male 
endeavours to prove his superiority by the strength of his bill and wings. They select 
an open spot, generally a sloping sward of short green grass, or a rushy field near 
some old stone wall, and at no great distance from the moor or woods in which they 
have roosted. Thither the birds come at or just before daybreak to hold the " lek," as 
the playing-grounds are called. The males nearly always arrive first, and on alighting 
stand erect for a moment or two to see that all is safe, after which all caution is abandoned. 
There are few more charming sights than a Blackcock's playing-ground in the spring. 
Whether he be sportsman or naturalist, a man who will for once arouse himself and 
dress in the cold dark morning will be more than rewarded for his activity by the 
interesting things that he will see. The morning air is freshness itself, whilst every 
moment brings some new things as Nature unfolds the coming day. Nature is awaking 
from her long sleep, and all her little songsters are vying with each other in the praise 
of God. 
"The thrush and the lark are the first to stir, and their songs can be heard long 
before there is sufficient light to distinguish the singers. Soon the ' whirroo ' of the 
Blackcock and the 'goback' of the grouse join in the chorus of sound, just as the 
day comes peeping in and makes out the misty forms of the little bunnies chasing one 
another over the heath. Then a hare will perhaps come cantering up to the place of 
ambush you have chosen to see the Blackcock fray, and will sit up with serene com- 
posure whilst he proceeds with his morning toilet. One creature follows another in 
obtruding itself on your notice, and you look with pleasure and wonder at the absence 
of fear displayed by creatures which at other times are so shy. Even that most timid 
and graceful of all animals, the roebuck, cannot make up his mind to flee in terror, 
as is his wont, but advances with slow and hesitating steps ; he knows well there is 
something wrong, having got your wind, but for once regards you as an object of 
intense curiosity, cocking his delicate little ears and shaking his head as he runs bark- 
ing round your place of concealment." I wrote these and the following lines in a 
notebook whilst hunched up in some large gorse bushes overlooking a playing-ground 
at Cawdor, in April 1900, so they have the merit of being first-hand notes of a Black- 
cock " lek." 
" From our point of observation we can see the Blackcocks arrive on the ground, 
that is to say, if they are not there already. One's attention is attracted to the scene 
of the future triumphs and defeats by the almost continuous whirring calls of the 
Blackcocks, which are loud and resonant. 1 On still bright mornings I have distinctly 
heard their notes at a distance of two miles. This call soon attracts the Greyhens, who 
are sure to be close at hand, as all the birds pass the night, during the period of love 
and war, in the woods adjacent to the tournament ring, so as to be up betimes at the 
first appearance of daylight. Should the birds be disturbed on their arrival at the 
ground, the hens are the first to take their departure, the cocks being usually too busy 
1 The noise resembles nothing that I can think of, so much as the sound of a luggage-train passing over loose metals 
at a distance. 
