THE RED GROUSE. 
169 
fte is also nearly the only enlivener of these wiki so- 
litudes, by his loud morning and evening call. Du- 
l ing summer it may be varied by the whistle of the cur- 
lew or the wailing of the golden plover, or perhaps in- 
terrupted by the sailing flight of some harrier or other 
birds of ])rey ; but in winter, for leagues around, 
“ Dwells but the gor-cock and the deer.” 
Unless where much disturbed, the grouse is not 
a wild bird, and, unaware of danger, it will allow 
a person to approach or walk past, uttering only 
its call, as if to make its companions aware that some- 
thing is near. In districts where they are much fol- 
lowed, they, liowever, become one of the most wild 
and wary of our game, and almost impossible to be 
approached except by stratagem. For nearer con- 
cealment they are amply provided by the similarity 
of the tints of their plumage with the dark brown 
moss and heath, and excejtt for the assistance of the 
])ointer, could not be discovered. Unlike the large 
true grouse, the birds of the present group all pair 
and continue with their broods until a return of the 
warm season. The young in some seasons are dread- 
fully ravaged by the tapeworm, almost destroying 
them entirely in the districts where it occurs. It is 
their most severe natural enemy. The red grouse 
pairs very early, if mild, in January, and the female 
commences laying at the end of March. The eggs 
are deposited in a shallow hollow at the foot of some 
tuft of heath, which affords a partial covering and 
shelter, and only a few straws or grasses serve to se- 
parate them from the ground. Both parents attend. 
