10 RED GROUSE.
enemies: even the S caul-crow is sometimes beaten off. Towards t he
b e g i n n i n g of winter several Hocks often unite t o g e t h e r , to the number
of thirty or forty, forming what are called packs, and a r e then more
shy than previously. In severe winters these packs accumulate into
very Large b o d i e s : i n 178.-J-3 it is said b y T h o r n t o n that four thousand
were observed together.
Their flight, for the most part low and heavy, but strong, and
often extended to a considerable distance, is straight, accompanied
by a w h i r r i n g of the wings, which arc r a p i d l y moved, a n d a t times,
especially if declining along the mountain side, they sail with oats
t r e t c h e d and motionless pinions. They do not ordinarily fly much,
but prefer the concealment of t h e h e a t h , a n a t u r a l protection against
t h e i r various natural enemies, their colour also assimilating to i t : they
therefore run to some distance, or squat down to conceal themselves,
rising if the danger appears too p r o x i m a t e ; then the male stretches
u p his h e a d to r e c o n n o i t r e , and w i t h a l o u d call takes wing, followed
by the female and t h e y o u n g.
The tender leaves and shoots of the heath and ling are the main
articles of food of t h e G r o u s e , as also those of cotton grass and various
grasses, t h e willows, t h e t r a i l i n g a r b u t u s , t h e b e d s t r a w , t h e w h o r t l e b e r r y,
t h e crowberry, t h e b i l b e r r y , and the b e r r i e s of the l a t t e r - n a m e d of these,
but they also feed voraciously on corn, if any is grown within their
reach, oats especially, and swallow small particles of stone in a i d of
d i g e s t i o n . As if conscious, however, that they were depredators, they
on such occasions leave a few sentries outside the enclosure, where,
perched on a wall or rock, t h e y look out w i t h stretched neck and head
for the a p p r o a c h of danger. The pieces of the h e a t h which they take
a r e about half an inch long each, and these they select as t h e y walk
about among the h e a t h e r . When not feeding they rest within its shelter,
or bask in the s u n i n some open place, under the cover of some tuft
or bush.
The bold challenge of' the Moor-cock, imaginable into a ' g o , g o ,
go-back, go-back,' a call of defiance, or of alarm to their mate or
y o u n g , or both, in the s p r i n g or t h e a u t u m n , as t h e case may b e , is
h e a r d as well early in t h e m o r n i n g , soon after dawn, and late in t he
evening, as also at times throughout the day: the o r d i n a r y note is a
deep and q u i c k l y - r e p e a t e d ' c o c , coc.'
T h e Moor-cock pairs early i n t h e s p r i n g , commonly in J a n u a r y , but
sometimes even earlier. A b r o o d of young Grouse, able to fly a little,
was discovered on the 5th. of March, 1794, near Tendle Hill, in
Y o r k s h i r e , by t h e gamekeeper of Mr. L i s t e r , afterwards L o r d Ribblesd
a l c ; and a nest with fifteen eggs was found on t h e £5th. of March,
RED GROUSE. 11
1835, on Shap F e l l , Westmoreland. The female usually begins to lay
in March or A p r i l ; she sits very close, and Mr. Salmon says that one
allowed him to take her off her eggs.
The nest is made of twigs of heather and grass, with occasionally
a few of the b i r d ' s own feathers, and is placed among heath in some
slight hollow.
The eggs are usually six or seven, but sometimes from eight to
twelve, or even more, in number, of different shades of g r o u n d colour
—reddish white, brownish yellow, yellowish grey, or yellowish white,
thickly clouded, blotted, and dotted with blackish and b r o w n : they are
nearly of a regular oval form.
"While the y o u n g are hatching, the h e n u t t e r s an occasional chuckle.
The H e a t h Poults leave the nest shortly after they arc h a t c h e d , and
are soon able to fly; t h e y keep together till the e n d of a u t u m n , unless
dispersed by shooters: they are a t t e n d e d by b o t h the p a r e n t s . At the
beginning of the season they lie close, b u t g r a d u a l l y become more wild
as they arc disturbed.
Male; weight, about nineteen or twenty ounces, and from that to
twenty-three, or even to twenty-four and three quarters, or u p w a r d s;
the Grouse of Y o r k s h i r e are said to be the smallest, b u t Daniel, in
his ' R u r a l Spurts,' mentions one killed near Richmond, in Y o r k s h i r e,
which weighed twenty-five ounces, and Pennant another which weighed
twenty-nine; one k i l l e d in Wales weighed thirty ounces, and another
twenty-six ounces; another near Todmorden, in L a n c a s h i r e , thirty-one
ounces. Length, from one foot three inches and a q u a r t e r , to a little
over one foot four and a half; bill, brownish black, half hidden in
feathers—there are a few small white feathers at its base, ending in
a thread of white on the side of the bead; iris, chesnut brown;
the membrane over the eyebrows red, the feathers of the eyelids
white. Head, deep chesnnt brown; the crown i r r e g u l a r l y b a r r e d in
summer with brownish black, as are t h e neck on t h e back and n a p e;
chin, throat, and breast, reddish chesnut brown, the latter blackish
brown on its middle part, the chesnut bars being narrower than the
black ones, and some of the feathers are white at their tips; the
ground colour paler, and more barred in summer, liack, reddish
brown, minutely barred with brownish black, most of the feathers
having also a p a t c h of black.
The wings, short, broad, and r o u n d e d , have the t h i r d and fourth
feathers nearly equal and t h e longest, t h e fifth longer than the second,
which is longer than the sixth, the first about the same length as t he
seventh, but shorter than the s i x t h ; they expand from two feet one
inch and a half to two feet three. Greater and lesser wing coverts,