the upper parts becomes buff, and the lower surface is barred with buff and black. Mr Ogilvie-Grant recognises three types of plumage in the male, a red form with no white spots, from Ireland and Western Scotland; a blackish variety comparatively rarely found; and another largely spotted with white below or even above. Intermediate specimens constitute the bulk of our birds. The female exhibits, moreover, a buff-spotted and a buff-barred form; but in summer she is typically black above with concentric buff markings, and buff below with black bars. Her autumn plumage, which continues throughout the winter, is black, spotted with buff" and barred with rufous."[1] As we write, Mr Ogilvie-Grant has published in the "Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club"[2] an elaborate account of the changes of plumage undergone by the Red Grouse, and of the points wherein he differs from Mr Millais and Dr Wilson; but this is not the place to enter into controversial matters, and our readers must form their own opinions on the subject.[3] Various reasons have been suggested for the absence of a white winter plumage in the British bird, for which reference may be made to the late Professor Newton's "Dictionary of Birds."[4]
The Red Grouse is not polygamous; the birds pair very early in the year, and consequently breed at a time when the eggs are apt to be seriously damaged Habitsby late frosts, while the young often suffer from similar causes. The usual haunts are moors clothed with heather (Erica) and ling (Calluna) but in some parts at least of the north-west of England they are to be found on hills covered with crowberry (Empetrum), rush (Juncus), and other vegetation, where little if any heather or ling grows. As a rule, the nest is a slight structure of bents and so forth, placed in thick heather or grass, or even on almost bare ground; the eggs, ranging from five or six more than a dozen in number, have a yellowish or buffish white ground-colour, normally blotched and spotted with reddish or blackish brown. The colour of the markings, however, varies considerably; in some specimens they are purplish or very rich red, in others orange-red. The eggs measure nearly 2 inches by rather more than 1. The cock utters his well-known crow at all seasons; the hen has a somewhat different note in the mating season, and when in charge of the young. The cock has also a clear ringing cry.
The general habits will be dealt with in the later chapters.
- ↑ "Cambridge Natural History," vol. ix., Birds, p. 338. Cambridge, 1899
- ↑ "British Ornithologists Club," vol. xxii. p. 122. London, 1910.
- ↑ Vide also chap. iii.
- ↑ "Dictionary of Birds," p. 391.
