438 BLACKCOCK. 
black ; the back of his neck, ashy brown; the 
upper parts of his body, grey with a tinge of 
green; his quills and tail, dusky and edged with 
dull green ; his breast and belly, light ash colour ; 
and his legs and feet, bluish grey or lead-colour. 
The female is larger than the male; her plumage 
is darker and more tinged with green; and the 
crown of her head is of an umber-brown or rusty 
colour. The young, when they leave the nest, 
have similar plumage to that of the female. The 
blackcap frequents hedges, orchards, and gardens, 
and builds its nest among brambles or nettles, or 
in alow bush. When singing in its wild state, 
it secretes itself among dense foliage, and is very 
rarely seen; and, like the nightingale, it prolongs 
its song far into the night. When caged, it soon 
learns the notes of the nightingale or the canary, 
has highly attractive properties as a mocking- 
bird, and is in high esteem for its melody. 
BLACK CATTLE. See Carrzez. 
BLACKCOCK, or Brack Grouszn,—scientifically 
Tetrao tetric. A large game bird of the tetraon- 
ide or grouse family. The male is popularly 
called blackcock and heathcock; the female is 
popularly called grey hen; the young birds are 
popularly called poults; and all have a prominent 
place in the popular designation of grouse. The 
blackcock is somewhat plentiful in Holland, 
France, and Germany; it abounds in Denmark, 
Sweden, Norway, and Russia; it occurs sparingly 
heaths of the southern and central counties of 
England; and it abounds among the mountains 
of Northumberland and of the highland districts 
of Scotland. This noble bird is the largest and 
most beautiful of British grouse, and a chief or- 
nament of British ornithology. The male weighs 
about four pounds, and is larger than the female; 
his general colour is deep black; each wing is 
marked with a band of white; his upper surface 
glitters with brilliant steel blue and purple re- 
flexions; and his tail is forked, and terminates 
in outward curls. The female weighs only about 
two pounds; her upper surface is orange brown, 
speckled and barred with black; her breast is 
chestnut brown, barred with black; her greater 
wing-coverts are tipped with white; and her tail 
is ferruginous, spotted with black, and slightly 
forked. 
Selby says, respecting the haunts and habits of 
this bird, ‘The bases of the hills in heathy and 
mountainous districts, which are covered with a 
natural growth of birch, alder, and willow, and 
intersected by morasses clothed with long and 
coarse herbage, as well as the deep and wooded 
glens so frequently occurring in extensive wastes, 
are the situations best suited to the habits of 
these birds, and most favourable to their increase, 
During the months of autumn and winter, the 
males associate, and live in flocks, but separate 
in March or April; and, being polygamous, 
each individual chooses some particular station, 
from whence he drives all intruders, and for the 
among the mountains of Wales, and the wild. 
BLACK-LEG. 
possession of which, when they are numerous, 
desperate contests often take place. At this sta- 
tion, he continues every morning during the pair- 
ing season, beginning at daybreak, to repeat his 
calls of invitation to the other sex. At this sea- 
son, his plumage exhibits the richest glosses, and 
the red skin of his eyebrows assumes a superior 
intensity of colour. With the cause that urged 
their temporary separation, their animosity ceases; 
and the male birds again associate, and live har- 
moniously together. The female deposits her 
eggs in May; they are from six to ten in number, 
of a yellowish grey colour, blotched with reddish 
brown. The nest is of mest artless construction, 
being composed of a few dried stems of grass, 
placed on the ground under the shelter of a tall 
tuft or low bush, and generally in marshy spots 
where long and coarse grasses abound. The young 
of beth sexes at first resemble each other, and 
their plumage is that of the hen, with whom they 
continue till the autumnal moult takes place; at 
this time the males acquire the garb of the adult 
bird, and, quitting their female parent, join the 
societies of their own sex. The food of the black 
grouse, during the summer, chiefly consists of 
the seeds of some species of juncus, the tender 
shoots of heaths, and insects. In autumn, the 
crowberry or crawcrook, Hmpetrum nigrum, the 
cranberry, Vaccrnvum oxycoceus, the whortleberry, 
Vaccinium vitis idea, and the trailing arbutus, 
Arbutus uva ursi, afford it a plentiful subsistence. 
In winter, and during severe and snowy weather, 
it eats the tops and buds of the birch and alder, 
as well as the embryo shoots of the fir tribe, 
which it is well enabled to obtain, asit is capable 
of perching upon trees without difficulty. At 
this season of the year, in situations where arable 
land is interspersed with the wild tracts it in- 
habits, descending into the stubble grounds, it 
feeds on grain.” 
BLACK CURRANT. See Currant. 
BLACK DOLPHIN. See Aputs. 
BLACK DYE. The basis of black dyes for all 
organic fabrics is the tannogallate of iron; but | 
the modes of application vary with the nature of 
the fabric, whether silk, wool, or cotton. The 
finest blacks are obtained by a combination of 
colours; thus a rich black is imparted to wool 
by grounding it with a deep indigo-blue, then 
passing it through logwood, galls, or sumach, and 
finally through a bath of these with copperas and 
verdigris, or immediately through the latter, 
BLACK FLY. See Fry. 
BLACK-LEG, or Lue Evin. A formidable dis- 
ease in the legs and sometimes in the neck of 
sheep. It is frequent in the midland counties of 
England, and is called the wood-evil in Stafford- 
shire. The hoof or the knee is usually the first 
seat of it; and this swells, and makes the sheep 
quite lame. The diseased limb is generally cov- 
ered with small blisters, filled with a bluish fluid: 
and the skin is of the same colour, and soon 
breaks into ulcers. The part affected should be 
a 
