186 
NATURAL HISTORY 
seven eggs, which are white and marked with yellow; 
and while sitting she is so remarkably tame and tranquil, 
that it is not easy to force her from her nest. When 
obliged to quit her eggs in quest of food, she covers 
them up so artfully with moss and dry leaves, that it is 
extremely difficult to discover them. 
The black cock, the grous commonly so called, and 
the ptarmigan, are all birds of a similar nature with the 
preceding, and chiefly found in healthy mountains, or 
piny forests, at a distance from mankind. The black 
cock, (which derives its name from the colour of its 
plumage, though that of the female resembles a part- 
ridge,) is about half as large again as the partridge, and 
its colour like that of a woodcock, but redder. The ptar- 
migan is still somewhat less, and its plumage of a pale 
brown, or ash colour. These are all distinguishable from 
other birds of the poultry kind, by a naked skin, of a 
scarlet colour, above the eyes, in the place, and of the 
figure of eye-brows. 
In most of the northern parts of Europe, even as far 
as Greenland, a bird of this species is met with, called 
the white grous; at times it visits the highest hiils in 
Scotland, in the Hebrides and Orkneys, and sometimes, 
but rarely, on the lofty hills of Cumberland and Wales, 
The female lays eight or ten eggs, which are white, 
spotted with brown: she makes no nest, but deposits them 
on the ground. In winter they fly in flocks, and are so 
litttle accustomed to the sight of man, that they are 
easily shot or taken in a snare. They feed on the wild 
productions of the hills, which sometimes give their 
flesh a bitter taste. 
Partridge. ( Perdix Virgbuanus . PL 28.) The 
length of this bird is about thirteen inches. The bill is 
light brown; eyes hazel; the general colour of its plum- 
age is brown and ash, elegantly mixed with black; each 
feather is streaked down the middle with buff colour; the 
sides of the head are tawney; under each eye there is a 
small saffron coloured spot, which has a granulated ap- 
pearance, and between the eye and the ear a naked skin 
of a bright scarlet, which is not very conspicuous but in 
