RED GROUSE 
parts widely tipped with white. The form described above is the commonest 
or buff-spotted form of the female in autumn-winter-plumage. In typical 
examples of the red form, in which the predominating colour of the whole 
plumage is bright chestnut, the buff spots at the tips of the feathers of 
the upperparts are usually absent, and this is also the case in the much 
rarer black form. In the buff-barred form, from Ireland, the terminal buff 
spot takes the form of a marginal bar, and the feathers are practically 
indistinguishable from those of the breeding- or summer -plumage. 
Adult female. Summer ^plumage, April to July. — ^The summer-moult of the 
upperparts is very complete, and the transformation from the autumn- 
winter -plumage very marked. Every female assumes the summer- 
plumage, and at that season all the different types closely resemble 
one another, but the colour of the underparts generally indicates to which 
type each individual belongs. In the average female, which is in full 
breeding -dress by the first week in May, the upperparts may be described 
as black, each feather being rather widely margined, barred and marked 
with bright buff. 
This plumage, however, varies much in different individuals, birds 
from the west of Scotland and England and from Ireland having the buff 
bars much brighter and wider than in the more finely mottled and darker 
specimens which are generally characteristic of the east of Scotland. 
All the feathers of the fore -neck and chest are widely barred with black 
and yellowish -buff. Many (about a third) of the finely mottled rufous 
and black autumn -winter -feathers of the sides and flanks are replaced by 
widely, and often irregularly barred buff and black feathers, similar to 
those of the chest. These summer -feathers, especially those of the sides 
and flanks, are longer and altogether larger than those of the autumn- 
winter -plumage which they mask. 
The rest of the underparts remain unchanged till the autumn moult ; 
only those parts which are conspicuous are changed, and the protection 
afforded by the summer -plumage is so perfect, that when the female is 
sitting on its nest among the heather and dead grass, it may easily be 
overlooked, though only a few yards distant. 
In July the legs and feet of healthy females are bare and covered with 
new feathers still in the sheath. The claws have likewise been shed, and 
the new ones are very small. 
Young in first plumage . — In July they resemble the adult female in 
summer -plumage in their general coloration, but the buff markings on 
49 
H 
