BLACK GROUS. MALE. 
Tetrao tetrix. 
Le Coq de Bruyeres a queue 
fourche'. 
Le Petit Tetras, ou Coq de 
Bruyere. 
Black Cock, Black Game. 
Black Grous. 
Lin. Syst. i. p . 27 2. 2. 
Briss. Orn. i. p . is 6. 2. 
Buff. Ois. ii. p . 510. 
RaiiSjm. p . 5 3 . A. 2. Will. Orn. 
p . 17 3 . 
Lath. ii. p . 7 3 3 . 
This bird is rather larger than a fowl, being almost two feet in length: 
a full grown cock will weigh nearly four pounds. The seven exterior 
feathers of the tail curve outwards, and the ends are square, and appear as 
if cutoff; the middle ones are much shorter, making the tail appear forked: 
is fond of woodland and mountainous situations; perches like the pheasant. 
It feeds on acorns, bramble- berries, and bilberries. In the summer it quits 
the hills and descends into the plains, and feeds on grain; in the winter, 
on the tops of the heath. 
They never pair, but in the spring the male gets upon some emi- 
nence, crows, and claps his wings; on which signal all the females within 
hearing assemble : he then makes choice of two or three hens, to which 
he particularly attaches himself. 
They are common in all the northern parts of Great Britain, but more 
especially in Scotland and Wales, on the fells of Cumberland and West- 
morland, the moors in Yorkshire, Staffordshire, the New Forest of 
Hampshire, and likewise in Sussex. 
Every attention was paid to this pair, which were preserved in this 
menagery in order to their breeding, but without effect. 
