Salmon mentions that one allowed him to hake her off her
eggs. The cock bird does not share the duties of‘incubation,
but while the hen is sitting he is generally not far off,
and at the approach of danger he utters his warning dfeft,
kok, kok. He.is also in the habit of sitting on a hillock or
“ knowe,” and prowing at dawn, especially on clear frosty
mornings : the cry is peculiar, and not: easily described,
that of the female being a strange nasal croak. The: young
brood leave "the nest soon after they are freed from the shell,
and are. attended to by both the parent birds, under whose
example they learn to feed on the various vegetable suK-
stances by which they, are surrounded. The extreme ends
of the common ling and fine-Jeaved heather, with the leaves
and berries-of the black and red -woiile, and crowberry, and
occasionally oats, when grown at the moor side/ are: the portions
and kinds offood most frequently found in their crops.
The variation in the plumage of the Red Grouse is ^considerable,
especially in the feathers of the underparts ;>■ and
those who have had opportunities of examining' many- Examples,
can give a good guess at the docilities from which
they have come. Thus birds from the Hebridesrand Wi-gton-
shire are said to be stallen,and lighter in>? colour than those
from moré eastern moors; the Perthshire Grouse are smaller
and darker than those" of Argyllshire, whilst intEanark, Renfrew
and the Border, counties they, are as 'light-coloured as
Partridges.* The Welsh birds are said to;; be large imsize
and light in;' colour; those from the north ©f England are
more rufous-; those from-Ireland jire much lighter/ with a
yellowish-red tinge in the plumage/ and browner legs. This
variation- is principally "noticeable in the underparts, and
mayfbe partially attribufablèntó age] butK-t has .heen generally
ascribed )t<? a .tèndency to assimilate with' the ground
they frequent.' -rMr. E. T. Bucklèy,however fp i Z^rsS: 18.82,
pp. 112-11.6), says that he has killed dark birds on /light.-,-
coloured ground, and that, considering the partially migratory
habits, .of the .Grouse, which must deseendv^from' the:higher
to .dhe.jj lower grounds as winter advances,feit is scarcely
-* Colqulioun, ‘ The Moor andtheUoch/led.'S, qa. 112.^
possible to suppose that each bird could select the surroundings
suitable to its'own plumage/ 'Nor is the principal
variation in the back—although that is the portion which
requires protective assimilation—hut in the underparts,
which are concealed when the birds squat; and these variations
are therefore considered to - be instances of individual
difference or polymorphism.
Some birds bred on higli ground shew a tendency to white
underpays in winterhand, although rare, instances are not
unknown of a change similar to that observed in the Willow-
Grouse. Mr. John Marshall, of Belmont, Taunton, has- two
birds said to have , been - shot in Perthshire/ ah .which thé
quill-feathers are white“with black shafts ; tfee tail black;
tipped with white; the tail-coverts pure white; .and the
body white, sprinkled with dark feathers about the head and
neck. A male specimen »in-'the collection'formed by Messrs.’
Salvin and Godman, and now in the British .Museum/
obtained on the Island of Lewis in October, has a considerable
amount of .white on. the throat.*: Varieties a greyish-
buff are sometimes obtained, and -on.one of these, purchased
from a dealer/ibe/late.^Mrv~G: R. Gray conferred» the name
of LagopusX pefJicus^hmdev the impression .that it came
from some place in Persia. This-specimen'is figured in Gray
and Mitchell’s ‘.Genera- of Birds,’'vol^iiiq p. - 517, pi. cxxxiii.,
andimMri’Bf. G.-Elliott’s Monograph of the ‘TMraon^dmjbnt
there can scarcely be a doubt' that; the locality was assigned
in error. A similar-variety hais’beeh >obtainedjfei''co. Mayo
(A. G. More, Zool."I882, p. 147*); and examples^! a cream
colour have been recorded:by Selby ^tll.nBrit. Orn. i. p. 249)*
from tho moors of Blanchland in 'th e county of Durham,
but from the- anxiety oft sportsmen, to procure specimens,
these birds wejse not allowed to increase-. ■’
Red Grouse also vary much in weight in different: districts
and according teethe -time oh year, being at their best both
as regard weight and.plumage in November. A'cock Grouse
generally weighs about 1J and a hen about l^ -lbs:, but
many birds are onrecord up tj/2 lbs. The weight/of- the-
heaviest birds shot between 1874/4881 on'Rousay-i-n the