RED GROUSE. 
265 
those most commonly met with. The third or white-spotted 
form, has the feathers of the breast and belly, 
those of the head and upper-parts, Upped "’f ^ 
most typical examples of this variety are found, as a rule, on 
the hiah ^rounds of the north of Scotland. 
“ In the female, no less than five distinct types are recognisable 
the red, the black, the white-spotted, the buff-spotted, and the 
buff-barred, forms. The first two are the rarest, the 
extremely uncommon (pi. m. figs. 5 and 13). 
spotted form occurs as in the male; the ^^uff-spotted form, 
which is much the commonest and most usually met with, has 
the feathers of the upper parts topped at the tip with whitish- 
buff (pi. iii. figs. 2 and 3) ; the 
(nl. lii. fig. 4), is met with in the south of Ireland, and re 
sembles in winter (autumn plumage) the ordinary female in 
breeding plumage, having the upper parts coarsely barred with 
buff and black. Very little is known of this last variety owmg 
to the difficulty in obtaining birds, except during the shooting 
'“‘The great peculiarity of the Red Grouse, and one without 
parallel among birds even of the genus, lies in the fact that t e 
changes of plumage in the male and female occur at different 
niale has no distinct summer plumage, but has distinct 
autumn and winter plumages, and retains the latter throug 1- 
nut the breeding season. , - , • 
“ The female has a distinct summer plumage, which is com- 
nlete bv the end of April or beginning of May ; also a distinct 
Ltumn plumage, which is retained till the following spring. 
a To put it more concisely, both male and female have two 
distinct moults during the year, but in the male they occur m 
autumn and winter, and in the female m summer and autumn ; 
the former having no distinct summer, and the latter no distinct 
""‘Mn^the\\Tlow Grouse and Ptarmigan there are three distinct 
changes of plumage in summer, autumn, and winter in both 
male and female alike, the winter plumage being white m all. 
“The Red Grouse is considered by most ornithologists merely 
an insular form of the Willow Grouse, and consequently one 
might naturally suppose that, as the British species does not 
