BLACK-GROUSE 
versed in the great difference in the flight of the two birds. Many hens 
are thus shot which should be carefully spared. The coveys of young black- 
game are very tame, and being very slow-growing birds, only half grown 
by the middle of September, fall an easy prey to the unscrupulous gunner. 
In autumn the coveys are very fond of repairing to the turnip -fields, where 
they feed on the tops and find an abundance of insects. If disturbed they will 
rise singly or in pairs, and may be easily killed down to the last bird by 
some party legitimately engaged in shooting partridges. For this reason 
the shooting of black -game ought not to commence until the end of 
October, by which date the young cocks have usually assumed a large 
part of their first autumn -plumage, and are more able to take care of 
themselves. 
In July and August when the old blackcocks are in full moult and have 
assumed the “ eclipse,” chestnut, and black barred plumage on the head 
and neck, and sometimes also on the upper mantle, they are usually to be 
met with singly, and are rarely seen. For a time, when the moult is at 
its height, being devoid of tail-feathers, and possessing very few flight - 
feathers, they seek safety by hiding and skulking in dense covert, such as 
long heather, juniper and gorse. Even if hunted for with good dogs, they 
are very difficult to find, for they squat so closely and suppress their 
scent so successfully, that they are often passed by undetected. Some 
years ago, when specimens of old blackcocks in their “eclipse ” plumage 
were required for the Natural History Museum, it required days of careful 
search to obtain four in a locality where black-game were known to be 
particularly numerous. More miserable looking objects than these 
moulting cocks it would be difficult to imagine, and it was hard to 
believe that such sorry looking birds would soon be transformed into the 
noble blackcocks to be met with a month or two later. 
In late autumn and winter the males, especially the old birds, keep 
much together in packs or small parties. In Strath Naver, in Suther- 
landshire, where some ten years ago black-game were plentiful, 
the writer once saw a pack of about two hundred, apparently all old 
cocks. 
Position of legs in flight . — ^They flew close overhead over the valley, their 
tails looking abnormally long, while their legs, fully extended and 
pressed closely against the white under tail -coverts, were plainly visible. 
All game-birds carry their legs in this manner when in flight, a fact 
which is worth emphasizing, as the contrary has been stated in print. 
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