47 
THE EED GEOUSE. 
Eed Game. 
Tetmo ScoticuSj Lath. 
Is common throughout extensive heathy tracts in Ireland 
and the adjacent islets 
Being found equally in those barely elevated above the sea and 
those which empurple the summits of the highest mountains. In 
the most favoured localities the species was, until of late years, as 
plentiful in proportion to the extent of heath as in the Highlands 
of Scotland, and in some districts still is so, but its numbers, 
generally speaking, have been gradually decreasing from various 
causes, connected with the operations of man. The birds are 
not protected with the same jealous care as in Scotland, where 
the moors are a source of great revenue ; — those of Ireland are, 
on the contrary, with rare exceptions, reserved by the proprietors 
for their own or their friends^ shooting. It has been remarked 
to me by sportsmen, that the grouse of Ireland and Scotland 
differ in size and colour. This is apparently correct when birds 
of a certain district are compared with those of another ; but it 
is, in my opinion, a partial view of the subject, as in different 
localities throughout either the one country or the other, birds 
will be found equally to vary in these respects. The following 
observations strikingly illustrate this opinion : — A friend who 
shot over the moor of Glenroy, Inverness-shire, in 1844, observed 
that the grouse differed much in their plumage, and were of three 
varieties, each kind keeping particularly to its owm quarters. 
On the darkest and most heathy ground were the darkest birds, 
and the largest, weighing generally 2 lb. and sometimes 2 lb. 
* Lieut. Reynolds, R.N., of the Coast Guard Service, an ardent sportman, who 
was stationed at Achil in 1834, when Mr. R. Ball and I visited the island, stated 
that neither partridges nor quails were at that time found there. As the islaud is 
chiefly covered with heath, grouse might be supposed to be common ; but they were 
said to be scarce, owing to the number of foxes and other vermin, and the destruction 
caused by herdsmen’s dogs. 
