aimbly enough, and also roost at night, but they can perch adroitly
on the branches of trees, and move about among them. They may
often be seen in spring on the top of a low wall.
rhey feed on j u n i p e r berries, bilberries, blaeberries, cranberries,
w h o r t l e b e r r i e s , crow berries, and other mountain fruits throughout
t h e summer, as also on the fresh twigs of h e a t h e r , ling, and other
s h r u b s ; in the spring on the tops of the cotton grass, willow catkins,
grasses, rushes, heath-sedge, and buds of trees, the alder, the willow,
a n d others, and in the winter on soft twigs of all kinds, including
fir, the loaves of the t u r n i p and rape, and even, Sir W i l l i am J a r d i ue
says, on fern. They will scratch away the snow to uncover their
food. Sometimes in summer they make inroads into the corn fields,
and devour barley and other grain, as also insects and ants' eggs,
w i t h which the young arc; fed.
T h e Black Cock in the s p r i n g , about the middle of March, p a i r i ng
goin g on then, and in April and May, utters a growling kind of
n o t e , as well as a squeal or scream.
T h e nest is p l a r c d not far from water, or in a marshy spot, among
h e a t h , or in newly-made plantations, and sometimes in hedgerows,
g e n e r a l i y under the shelter of some low bush or among high grass,
in some hollow, and is composed inartificially, but neatly, of grass
a n d a few twigs laid together.
The eggs arc from five to eight or ten in number, of a pale
yellowish red or yellowish white colour, irregularly spotted and
d o t t e d witli reddish brown. They are laid in May.
I n the male the colours are a little lighter or deeper according to
t h e season. Weight, nearly four pounds; length to the end of the
side tail feathers, one foot ten or eleven inches, or from that to two
feet; bill, brownish black; iris, dark brown, over it is a space of
deep red, richest in spring, and under it a white m a r k ; the eyelids,
p a l e yellowish brown, are thinly covered with very small feathers.
I l . a d . crown, neck on the back, and nape, deep glossy p u r p l e bluish
b l a c k ; chin, throat and breast, brownish black, on the lower part the
feathers t i p p e d with w h i t e ; back, deep glossy p u r p l e b l u i s h black.
The wing-., short, expanding to the width of two feet six to two
loot nine inches, broad, and much r o u n d e d , and of twenty-five quills,
h a v e the fourth the longest, the t h i r d and fifth almost as long, the
second longer than the seventh, the first longer than the eighth, and
about the same length as the seventh; greater and lesser wing coverts,
b l a c k , partially white at the base; primaries, deep brownish black,
w i t h brownish white shafts, the inner ones white at the base;
secondaries and tcrtiarics, white at. t h e base, and slightly tipped with
whitish, forming a bar and band—brownish black at the end; greater
and lesser under wing coverts, excepting those on the outer edge
of the wing, white, a few of them shewing at the bend when the
wing is closed. The tail is of eighteen black feathers, three, four,
or five of the outer ones on each side gradually elongated and
t u r n e d outwards in the form of a l y r e ; upper tail coverts, brownish
b l a c k ; under tail coverts, w h i t e ; the longest shewing beyond the
middle of the tail feathers where they are the shortest. Legs, short,
feathered with hair-like feathers in front, and on the sides speckled
with white, and covered behind with rounded scales; toes, rather
small, brownish black, bare of feathers, and with lateral fringes;
t h e first is very small, the second and fourth nearly equal, the
t h i r d much longer, the front ones connected by short scaly membranes;
on the first toe there are ten, on the second eighteen, on the third
t h i r t y , on t h e f o u r t h twenty-two, n a r r ow plates. Claws, b l a c k i s h brown.
The female, called the Grey Hen, is in weight about two p o u n d s;
l e n g t h , one foot five or six inches; bill, brown; iris, hazel, over the
eye there is a narrow red mark; head, crown, neck on the back,
and nape, yellowish red, barred with brownish black, each feather
on the head with three, and on the neck with four bars of the
l a t t e r ; chin, throat, and breast, yellowish red, barred with brownish
black, the bars larger and curved, the ends greyish white, the sides
more red; below it is greyish white, b a r r e d with black and brown;
the back above, yellowish r e d , more broadly b a r r e d , the last bar forming
a pointed patch; on t h e lower part it is of a deeper red, b a r r e d with
brownish black.
The wings have a tuft of white feathers at the bend, as in the
male; they expand to the width of two feet seven inches; greater
wing coverts, g r e y i s h brown, their edges mottled with red, the middle
ones tipped with white; primaries, g r e y i s h brown, also mottled on their
edges with r e d ; secondaries, greyish brown, more widely mottled with
red, and undulated, and their tips white. The tail, very short, has
t h e four outer feathers a little longer than the others, but almost
straight, the tip greyish white; u p p e r tail coverts, also darker yellowish
red, conspicuously b a r r e d with brownish black; under tail coverts,
g r e y i s h white, p a r t i a l l y marked with i r r e g u l a r patches of brown and
red along the centre towards the end. Legs, greyish white, obscurely
mottled with reddish and blackish; toes, the soles of which are very
elastic, brown; claws, brown.
The young do not entirely lose their early plumage till towards the
following year. They arc at first covered with line down; the bill
brown, the tip of it p a l e r ; head on the front and sides spotted with