7 HE GROUS. 
43 
with yellow, of the size of a common hen’s egg. She gene- 
rally lays them in a dry place and mossy ground; and when 
she is obliged, during the time of incubation, to leave her eggs 
ln quest of food, she covers them up so artfully, with moss 
or dry leaves, that it is extremely difficult to discover them. 
As soon as the young ones are hatched, they are seen run- 
ning with extreme agility after the mother, though sometimes 
they are not entirely disengaged from the shell. They soon 
come to perfection; they are an hardy bird, their food lies 
every where before them, and it would seem that they should 
increase in great abundance. But this is not the case; their 
numbers are thinned by rapacious birds and beasts of every 
kind, and still more by their own salacious contests. They 
nght each other like game-cocks; and are so inattentive to 
their own safety, that it often happens that two or three of 
them are killed at a shot. It is probable, that in these con- 
tests, the bird which comes off victorious takes possession of 
the female seraglio, as it is certain they have no faithful 
attachments. This species is now rarely found even in the 
Highlands of Scotland. 
The black grous, or black cock is much more common. It 
is found in many parts of Europe, and in most of the moors 
ln the north of England. Its name almost furnishes its de- 
scription, since the whole body is black; but it has another 
Remarkable characteristic, which is, that its tail is forked. It 
is rather larger than a common fowl, and is in length twenty- 
tour inches. Their contests are so furious, that in Courland, 
tovonia, &c. it is a common method of taking them, to 
ussemble them together, by imitating the crowing of a black 
pock, and by having a figure prepared to imitate that animal 
to all its motions. The grous, being collected in vast num- 
bers from all parts, enter at first into a kind of sportive com- 
^at, which presently terminates in a real and bloody contest; 
when the combatants are so. intent upon each other’s destruc- 
tlQ n, that thpy fall an easy prey to their pursuers, and may 
oven be knocked down with a stick. There is 'a variety of 
his species with a plain tail. 
I he red grous, or moor-cock are also tolerably plentiful in 
10 se parts where the black grous is to be found. It is rather 
smaller than the preceding species, being only fifteen inches 
mid a h a if j a l en gth. The throat and back are reddish, with 
spot in each feather. The breast and belly are pur- 
1 *rp| to'own, and the legs are covered with softwhitish feathers. 
. ^nzel grous is a smaller bird, and appears of the same 
peci es with the former. It is a native of Germany. 
The 
l ] in-tailed- grous, so called from its narrow forked tail, 
