• Red Grouse.
Bottata scotica, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 199, tab. 22. fig. 1. ,
Tetrao lagopus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. ii. p. 750, var. y.
sections, Lath. Ind. Ora., vol. ii. p. 641.
— saliceti, var., Temm. Man. d’Ora., 1815, p. 296.
— saliceti scoticus, Schleg. Rev. Crit. dea Ois. d’Eur., p. 76.
Lagopus scoticus, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Br
Oreias scotica, Kaup, Naturi. Syst., p. 177.
T h e re is, perhaps, no one o f our British birds with which so many pleasing a n o n o iM » 1 •■; •••••■ 4 **
the Red Grouse, nor one which affords greater interest to the ornithologist, lit« ... ¡^4 &*•
o f nature,—t0 the ornithologist from the circumstance of its being peculiar to onr < igwfeopii»»
from the unrivalled enjoyment with which it furnishes him during the latter part of the ,
early autumnal months, and to the lover of .nature from its principal home being wtnotw
>¡iounfedn-districts o f the northern parts o f Britain, to which annually resort our princes, uMtflffesft m \
legislators for the reinvigoration o f their health after the fatigues of the Parliamentary setmko» rmai {fee
jading pleasures o f the London season. As affording sport it is second to none ; and its flesh hi • ;]?>*■;?
in flavour by that o f any other member o f its family. Its remarkable flight is viewed with pleasure. **tA
its wild cry is enchanting to the car o f all who have an opportunity o f treading the springy heather.
“ The crow o f the Grouse,” ' says St. John, in bis * Tour in Sutherland,’ “ is as inseparable in my niitid
from the mountains1 o f Scotland as the song o f the Water-Ouzel is from its birch-covercd glens or the
spring-call o f the Peewit from its marshy meadows.” Numerous as are the birds which frequent the
British Islands, the Grouse is the only one we can truly call our own ; for it never migrates nor ever
oversteps its natural boundary; it is always at home, bringing forth its brood among charming beds of
blossoming heather. Southward o f Wales it is not fonnd; but northward from this point it ranges over
most1 o f the counties o f England and Scotland, the Orkneys, the Western Islands, and the sister kingdom of
Ireland.
The vexed question o f the identity o f Lagopus scoticus with L . albus I shall not enter upon here. To
sink the former specific term for the latter would, I know, he distasteful to most o f my read ers; and as
it is a matter which still remains undecided, I shall give our bird the benefit of the doubt. Lagopus albus
possesses many characteristics by which it differs from the Red G rouse: thus it exchanges its rich brown dress
of summer for one o f pure white in w in ter; but, unlike many other animals which alter in colour from
the rigour o f climate, the tail always remains black, and appears, indeed, o f a deeper tint during that season.
Those who consider the two birds identical believe that our humid climate and almost peculiar vegetation
may have gradually effected a chauge in the coloration o f our Grouse—a change which, during the lapse of
ages, has become permanent. I f this be the correct theory (and I must admit that I think it probable,
that it is), then the range of the species would be a vast one, extending more or less throughout the northern
portions o f both the Old and New World a t about the same degree o f latitude as in Europe. To test
their unity, I paid a visit to Norway, to form my own opinion on the subject; and I must say I was much
struck with the similarity o f the two birds in their habits and economy, and in the crowing call o f the male.
On this head, Mr. Oscar Dickson, o f Gothenburg, wrote, in * Land and Water ’ for September 26th, 1 868:—
“ Some leading Swedish naturalists maintain that there is no other difference between the Scotch and Norwegian
Willow-grouse than what may be accounted for by the influence o f climate. They say th at the call and also
the droppings are ju st the same, and that there is no dissimilarity in the skeletons o f the two— that most
WiHoxv-grouse have white pens in the wings, but not all, which they can prove by specimens a t the Stockholm
museum. When I point to the different habits o f the birds—such as the Scotch Grouse not being found near
trees, and t hat they do not turn white in winter—they account, for this by the influence of climate ; and when
I ask why the Willow-Grouse are not met with in the middle and south part o f Sweden when they, in Scotland
and England, are found in lower degrees than Copenhagen (which is about- the same latitude as> Edinburgh),
they say th at the Grouse prefer the colder p arts, and therefore, also, they appear in greatest numbers in the
north o f Scotland.”
Some o f our writers have affirmed that the Red Grouse never perch on tre e s ; but this assertion must
not be taken literally: the fact is they frequently do so,'either for the sake o f changing their food or to escape