88 
BLACK GROUSE. 
berries of tire different alpine plants;* in winter, 
the tender slioots of the fir, catkins of birch and 
hazel, heath, and even the leaves of fern, and these 
often give their peculiar flavour to the flesh. But 
in the lower districts, where, indeed, this bird is 
most abundant, the gleaning of the stubble yields 
a plentiful meal, fields of turnip and rape are also 
favourite feeding places, and the leaves supply a 
more grateful food during hard frost than they 
could elsewhere procure. In some places, flocks 
of hundreds assemble at feeding times, and although 
at this time they are extremely shy and wary, the 
fences and enclosures often allow them to be ap- 
proached within shot. 
The plumage of the adult male is on all the 
upper parts of a rich steel-blue, on the lower parts 
pitch-black, which duller colour is also seen on the 
secondaries and wing-coverts ; the greater coverts 
are tipped with white, forming a bar across the wings, 
conspicuous in flight, and the under tail-coverts 
are of the same pure colour. In the full plumage, 
immediately succeeding the moult, there is a tinge 
of brown intermixed, which is changed as the 
winter terminates ; but the most remarkable struc- 
ture of this bird, is that of the tail, formed of 
gradually elongated feathers, diverging or curving 
outwardly, and when at the highest development, 
expanding into a graceful lyre shaped tail. There 
is nothing in the habits of the bird which corre- 
* Empr.trnm nigrum , Vaccinium oxycoccus, myrtUlus , rifts idea, 
arbutus two lira, Qc. 
