Red grouse

“ The red grouse indeed is rarely or never found away from the heather on which chiefly it subsists; while the willow-grouse in many parts of the Old World seems to prefer the shrubby growth of berry-bearing plants (Vaccinium and others) that, often thickly interspersed with willows and birches, clothes the higher levels or the lower mountain-slopes, and it flourishes in the New World where heather scarcely exists, and a “heath” in its strict sense is unknown. ”

“ This beautiful arrangement of nature becomes even more impressive by certain comparisons. For instance, the Red Grouse, living as it does amongst the ling and heath, and in a region where snow seldom covers the ground for many days at a time, retains a brown dress throughout the year; in this species also the flight feathers are constantly brown in hue, just as those of the Ptarmigan are white. ”

“ The Red Grouse is, perhaps, the most highly-prized of all game birds, and the wonder is that it continues so abundant, notwithstanding the annual slaughter which takes place in its breeding and feeding grounds, which are mostly the open moors and hill-sides, where there is plenty of heath and ling, and other low-growing plants of the like nature. ”

“ The young are soon able to fly, and all keep together till the end of autumn, when several flocks unite and form a pack, continuing together till spring arrives, when they separate and pair. In the more remote parts of Scotland the Red Grouse is considered a bird of good omen. By its crowing at dawn, the evil spirits of night are thought to be put to flight, or deprived of their power. The flesh of the Red Grouse is dark, and has a peculiar, bitter flavour, but is held in high estimation. ”

“ The bird I have been describing is the red grouse; that is in fact the common grouse. But there is also found in Scotland, though less frequently, the black grouse, which is a much larger bird. The red grouse is rather bigger than a partridge.
I once made the acquaintance of a tame grouse—one at least that had been domesticated. The gentleman it belonged to had picked it up out of its nest when a tiny thing on the moors in Scotland; and being a great bird-fancier, and having a collection, he had brought it in a cage to his house in Kent. ”

“ Or, one may say that in passing from the north of Scotland southward and westward, there is an increasing tendency to the bright red and dark red types of Grouse, which culminate in the very characteristically bright red bird of Wales and of the Midlands of England, in which the predominating colour of the feathers of the breast and under parts generally is red with fine broken black cross-lines, while these cross-lines are sometimes almost absent. ”

“ The grouse, for instance, is a widely spread genus, or rather family; for it consists of [Pg 308] more genera than one. It is so extensively present over the northern hemisphere, that Siberia, Norway, Iceland, and North America, have all their grouse,—the latter continent, indeed, from five to eight different kinds; and yet so restricted are some of the species of which they consist, that, were the British islands to be submerged, one of the best known of the family,—the red grouse, or moor-fowl (Lagopus Scoticus) ,—would disappear from creation. ”

“ It is only in the sheltered corries or by the sides of some sparkling burn, that natural grasses spring up in sufficient breadth to provide summer pasturage for the red-deer, which are carefully protected for sporting purposes. Here too the ptarmigan breed in considerable numbers. The grouse moors command higher rents than would be profitable for a sheep-farmer to give for the grazing, and every year prior to the 12th of August, when grouse-shooting begins, there is an influx of sportsmen from the south, to enjoy this particular form of sport. The red grouse is indigenous to Scotland ”

“ If there are, as has been held, distinct pigments, such, for example, as buff, black, and orange-red, in the various colour-tones of the Red Grouse, it becomes easier to see that the loss of the red pigment, which is utilised for the eggs, leaves the buff and the black in greater quantity for the nesting season plumage. ”

“ The sedentary red grouse nests on the moors, often less than 1000 feet above the sea, but "when snow-bright the moor expands" it feeds and resides in the cultivated valley, and as shown by the committee appointed to study grouse disease, not infrequently migrates from range to range across wide valleys. ”

“ Red grouse pair in spring; the female lays eight or ten eggs on the ground. The young ones follow the hen the whole summer; as soon as they have attained their full size, they unite in flocks of forty or fifty, and are then exceedingly shy and wild.
White Grouse, White Game or Ptarmigan.— (Tetrao Lagopus, Linn.; La Lagopéde, Buff.) —This bird is nearly the same size as the red grouse. Its bill is black; the upper parts of its body are of a pale brown or ash colour, mottled with small dusky spots and bars; the bars on the head and neck are somewhat broader, and are mixed with white ”

“ GROUSE.—These birds are divided into wood grouse, black grouse, red grouse, and white grouse. The wood grouse is further distinguished as the cock of the wood, or capercalzie, and is as large as the turkey, being about two feet nine inches in length, and weighing from twelve to fifteen pounds. The female is considerably less than the male, and, in the colour of her feathers, differs widely from the other. This beautiful species is found principally in lofty, mountainous regions, and is very rare in Great Britain ”

“ The red grouse is strictly monogamous, and each pair retires to its own chosen nesting-place, where a slight hollow is scratched under a tuft of ling, and five or six to twelve eggs are laid. They are pale olive in ground-colour, blotched with dark red. The female alone incubates, but the male assists in rearing and protecting the young. ”

“ 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." [6]
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. ”

“ Red Grouse must, occasionally, fall in the way of the wanderer over the Scottish moors, whatever may be the object of his rambles; but a sportsman alone is privileged to make the bird his study at all seasons. My sketch, therefore, of the Grouse is to be considered as taken, not from the limited observation which I have been enabled to make, when I have chanced to start a bird on the hills of Westmoreland or the Highlands, but to be compiled from the notes of others who have had more ample means of observing its habits. ”

“ Of all birds the grouse is most invisible when quiet, his coloring blends so perfectly with the roots and leaves and tree stems among which he hides. This wonderful invisibility is increased by the fact that he changes color easily. He is darker in summer, lighter in winter, like the rabbit. When he lives in dark woods he becomes a glossy red-brown; and when his haunt is among the birches he is often a decided gray.
This was certainly true of the old beech partridge. ”

“ There are various forms of grouse—the red grouse, the willow grouse, and others—but the one thing that does not exist here is sand grouse, and why in the name of common sense we are going on year after year with the object of acclimatising a form of grouse which is not a grouse at all I cannot understand. ”

“ On such occasions the male is generally the first to rise. He erects himself among the heath, stretches out his neck, utters a loud cackle, and flies off, followed by the female and young, affording by their straightforward, heavy, though strong flight an easy mark to a good shot."
The Red Grouse flies low, heavily, and in a direct course, moving its wings rapidly, sometimes, especially when at full speed, with a whirring sound, and then descending with almost motionless pinions. ”

“ It is probable that the number of grouse on the higher hill ranges is very much kept in check by the great number of carrion-crows which everywhere exist among the fells. They impale the eggs of the red grouse upon their bills, and carry them away to eat at leisure. ”

“ 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." [3] As we write, Mr Ogilvie-Grant has published in the "Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club" [4] 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 ”

“ According to all the information I have been able to obtain and sift, it would not appear to breed anywhere but in the British Islands, and, were it not that its roving disposition sends it to southern countries in winter, it would be as emphatically peculiar to our own land as is the Red Grouse. ”

“ The grouse is larger than the partridge, and, when full grown, weighs from twenty to two-and-twenty ounces. The plumage is variegated, and beautifully composed of black, red, and white; the tail being similar to that of the partridge, but a little larger when extended in flight.
The GROUSE perseveringly adhere to those mountains and moors which are covered with heath, seldom or ever descending into the lower grounds. They fly in packs, consisting of four or five brace; and indulge upon intervening tracts of soft mossy ground, particularly in the hotter months of the year. ”

“ The grouse is a very wild and shy bird, and both skill and caution are required in approaching them; they live in flocks, called “packs,” and form their nests, as partridges do, upon the ground. Their plumage is a rich brown, mottled with paler spots; the tail is black, with the exception of four of the feathers, which have red marks on them: over the eye also is a rough bare red spot. The bill of the grouse is short, arched, and very strong ”

“ Nevertheless, the white spotting is not confined to the blacker or to the darker birds, for it may be quite a conspicuous feature in the bright red birds of Wales and England, though in the lowlands and in the north of England, especially in Yorkshire, it is a rare character, only exceptionally met with. ”

“ Mr Ogilvie-Grant, in his "Handbook to the Game Birds," 189G, says: "The ordinary varieties of the male may be divided into three distinct types of plumage: a red form, a black form, and a white-spotted form." [1]
The red form, he says, "is mostly to be found on the low grounds of Ireland, the west coast of Scotland, and the Outer Hebrides"; [2] and this Red type,
cocks. statement is borne out not only by the Committee's collection of Grouse skins, but by the interesting collection made by Mr T. E. Buckley now in the Cambridge Museum. ”

“ Well, you must know that there are many varieties of grouse in our broad land, but the ruffed grouse is the gamiest and handsomest in plumage of all the grouse family. It is swifter on the wing and harder to shoot. ”

“ These grouse have two color phases, the general tone of plumage being either reddish brown or gray, independent of age or sex of bird. These naturally wild, shy grouse are the kings of the eastern game birds, their wariness and speed with which they will dodge through the trees being the only reasons they have so long withstood the hunting to which they are subjected. During spring, the male struts often, tail expanded into a half circle, head thrown back to meet the upturned tail, and ruff spread so as to form a complete collar. They make a loud drumming by beating the air with their wings. ”

“ In it the leaves are falling, drifting down like snow, birds are silent, nervous, always on the alert for danger; new ledges show upon the mountain-sides, new vistas have opened through the forests, and spots which, when behind their August leaf mantles seemed dark and 167 secret, are now as open as the day. The brooks are more noisy, and easily seen, the grouse fly afar off; if one wishes a flower he must pluck the witch-hazel or let the bitter yarrow or the last clusters of goldenrod and asters satisfy him. ”

“ The most convincing proof of the reality of protective coloration is in the change of plumage or fur of some of the wild creatures to suit the season. In the far north, the grouse or ptarmigan, as they are called, do not keep feathers of the same colour the year round, as does our ruffed grouse; but change their dress no fewer than three times. When rocks and moss are buried deep beneath the snow, and a keen-eyed hawk appears, the white-feathered ptarmigan crouches and becomes an inanimate mound. ”

“ The grouse have taken to bud-eating from necessity—birch buds mostly, with occasional trips to the orchards for variety. They live much now in the trees, which they dislike; but with a score of hungry enemies prowling for them day and night, what can a poor grouse do?
When a belated snow falls, you follow their particular enemy, the fox, where he wanders, wanders, wander's on his night's hunting. Across the meadow, to dine on the remembrance of field mice—alas! safe now under the crust; along the brook, where he once caught frogs; through the thicket, where the grouse were hatched ”