RED GROUSE. ! 201 
paler brown more tinged with grey; greater and lesser under 
wing coverts, mostly white, but some of them brown, and 
others barred. The tail has the four middle feathers barred 
with black, and tipped with yellowish, the rest barred with 
reddish, except towards the tips, which are yellowish grey; 
upper tail coverts, barred with black, and tipped with yellowish. 
The young are at first covered with pale yellowish grey down; 
the head, chesnut, margined with darker brown, the lower 
parts mottled with pale brown, and the upper with deep brown. 
After a month’s growth the bill is brownish black, the tip of 
the upper one whitish; iris, hazel. Head, crown, neck on the 
back, and nape, brownish black, each feather edged and barred 
with yellowish red; the neck on the sides and in front, greyish 
yellow. Throat, greyish yellow; breast, yellowish grey, barred 
with brownish black; back, brownish black, each feather edged 
and barred with yellowish red. The primaries, secondaries, and 
tertiaries have the outer webs greyish brown, irregularly edged 
and barred with pale reddish yellow. legs, yellowish grey; 
claws, pale brown. 
When fully fledged they resemble the adult female. Head, 
erown, neck on the back, and nape, pale yellowish red, 
barred with blackish brown; chin, throat, and breast, paler. 
Back, pale yellowish red, mottled and barred with brownish 
black and pale yellow, most of the feathers having a small 
whitish spot at the tip. Primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, 
greyish brown barred with greyish yellow. Tail, greyish 
brown barred with greyish yellow. 
After the moult, which takes place in the middle of winter, 
the male has the head and neck on the back still much barred 
and blotted, the breast chiefly brownish black tinged with 
grey; the legs and toes grey. The female has most of the 
feathers tipped with whitish, and is altogether of a paler — 
and more yellow colour than the male, and the tail more or 
less barred. In summer, also, still paler than in winter. 
Red Grouse vary considerably in colour, those in Wales 
and the western side of the island being lighter coloured, 
and those on the eastern side darker; the former also are 
said to be the largest: scarcely two can be found exactly 
alike. Some have the breast nearly black, some with a good 
deal of white; some have the back with much black—different 
localities furnish birds of different ‘shades of character.’ In 
one, a cream-coloured or light yellowish brown variety, the 
usual markings were preserved; the quills and greater wing 
