138 THE WOOD GROUSE OR CAPERCAILZIE. 
neck, back and sides, are, when minutely observed, 
delicately varied with brown, grey, and black. The 
lower part of the breast and belly are black, gene- 
rally interspersed with a few white feathers, and the 
forepart of the breast is of a rich glossy green, the 
feathers thick and compact, and when seen in some 
lights, emit a very brilliant lustre of golden green 
and blue, whence the old appellation of “ peacock 
of the woods.” The female is considerably less, 
bearing even more disproportion in size than many 
of the others ; the colours of the plumage disposed 
in crescent markings of black upon a ground of rich 
brown. For the first autumn, the young males are 
nearly similar to the females, the brown tiut being 
rather deeper ; but before the ensuing spring, they 
receive the greater part of their adult plumage. 
The wood grouse is extremely shy, and in Ger- 
many he is reckoned an excellent hunter who can 
say that he has killed twenty or thirty males. Tem- 
rainck mentions one person particularly celebrated, 
who had shot fifty. They can only be approached 
during the time when the male calls the hens around 
him, and even the greatest delicacy and caution of 
approach is necessary. They are reckoned royal 
game, and the female is prohibited, under a severe 
penalty, to be shot.* The great numbers, however, 
of indiscriminate sexes which are brought to Lon- 
don, shew that this prohibition is not everywhere 
attended to, and that the approach of the males is 
• Temminck. 
