this species, nor the Ptarmigan, are at present in Ireland, altho' the red Grous are in plenty among the mountains and bogs of that country.

The black Grous are fond of wooded and mountainous situations, and perch like the Pheasant ; their food is various, the bilberry, mountain fruits and berries, and in winter the tops of the beath; in the summer they sometimes descend from the hills to feed on corn. The length of this bird is from one foot ten inches to two feet, breadth two feet nine, and weighs nearly four pounds; the bill is dusky black, the eyes dark blue, below each eye there is a spot of a dirty white colour, and above a larger one of a bright scarlet, the plumage of the whole body black, glossed over the neck and rump with a shining blue, the coverts of the wings are dusky brown, the greater are white, which extends to the ridge of the wings, forming a spot of that colour upon the shoulder when the wing is closed; the quills are brown, the lower parts and tips of the secondaries are white, forming a bar of white across the wing, there is likewise a spot of white on the bastard wing, the legs and thighs are covered with dark brown, mottled with white feathers, the toes are toothed on the edges like those of the Cock of the Wood, the tail consists of sixteen black feathers, and is much forked, the end of the exterior feather, which bends greatly outward, seems as if cut off, the feathers under the tail, and inner coverts of the wings, are of a pure white.

The Female is only one foot six inches long, breadth two feet six inches, and weighs two pounds; the eye has the dusky white mark beneath like the Male; the head and neck are marked alternately with bars of dull red and black; the breast with dusky black and white, but the last predominates; the back coverts of the wings and tail are similar in colour to the neck, except the red being deeper; the inner webs of the quill feathers are mottled with black and white; the inner coverts of the wings are white, and in both sexes is found on the shoulder a white spot; the tail is slightly forked, consisting of eighteen feathers, variegated with red and black; under the tail, the feathers are white, marked with a few bars of black and orange.

These birds never pair, but in the Spring the Males assemble at their accustomed resorts, on the tops of high and heathy mountains, when they crow and clap their wings, the Females at this signal, resort to them; they are very quarrelsome, and will fight together like game-cocks, and at that time are so inattentive to their own safety, that it has often happened that two or three have been killed at one shot, and in these combats, are so off their guard, as sometimes to be knocked down with a stick. The Female makes an artless nest on the ground, and lays from six to eight eggs, of a dull yellowish white colour, marked with numbers of very small ferruginous specks, and towards the smaller end with some blotches of the same hue, and hatches late in the summer, the young males quit their mother in the beginning of winter, and keep in flocks of seven or eight until spring, during that time they inhabit the woods; in their first feathers, they resemble their mother, not acquiring their full plumage till near the end

of Autumn, when it gradually changes, and assumes that blueish black colour, which it afterwards retains

A Sporting friend, who has seen much of the Highland shooting, has made the following remarks. That the broods of Black Grous are not found in tall ling, but chiefly in marshy ground, mixed with the Candlebury Myrtle, (sweet Gale,) in these places are also found Snipes, and between the two, the Dogs and the Shooters are often deceived; from thence they run into the ling, mixed with brackens, and then along the edges of fir, or birch wood, or corn ground, this is the general resort; the old black cocks are frequently found by the side of hills in the long ling, at some distance from covert; and he instances finding seven together in very deep ling on the edge of the beautiful lake, Loch-Awe, belonging to the Earl of BREADALBANE, Six of these birds were killed. Another time when shooting in company with the Marquis of LORN, twenty-eight were seen together, but were so wild, there was no possibility of getting near them.

Above the Black Game, is the Red Grous; these also as broods, must be near water, or swampy ground; higher up the hills are the barren birds, and still higher the Ptarmigans inhabit.

The Black Grous will live and thrive in Menageries, but have not been known to breed in a confined state, altho' in Sweden it has connected itself with the domestic hen, and produced a spurious breed. In the northern parts of Prussia and Siberia, they are extremely common whereever the birch trees grow, of which in the winter, the Black Grous fills its craw with the Catkins, before it retires under the snow, and by this means can sustain life many days without any other food; of the seeds of the Siberian Poplar, they are also very fond, and which are said to give their flesh an exceeding fine flavour.

It is somewhat remarkable that Cherries and Pease are fatal to this bird.

The flesh of several of the Grous kind is more or less inclined to brown; in this bird, part of the flesh of the breast is white, and called in the North, the white muscle, and which is peculiar to the black Grous from all the species at present known, appearing as a singular contrast to the surrounding parts which are deep coloured.

In Russia the shooting of the Black Grous is conducted in the following way. Huts full of loop holes like little Forts are built for this purpose in the woods frequented by these Birds.

• The Setter in the Engraving, pointing the black cock, is not only a beautiful dog of the kind, but unquestionably has fewer faults than any one the compiler recollects to have seen. Many dogs may possibly surpass him in some one peculiar part, yet considering him as knowing and performing the whole of his business, Beau (although now old), is deserving of his master's care, and of this concise acknowledgment of his merit.

Upon the trees, within shot of these huts, are placed artificial decoy birds, commonly made of black cloth, with the marks of the natural Fowl; as the Grous assemble, the company fire through the openings, and so long as the Sportsman is concealed, the report of the gun does not frighten away the Birds; several of them may therefore be killed from the same tree, if by chance three or four are placed on branches one above another, the Sportsman has only to shoot the undermost Bird first, and the others gradually upwards in succession; the uppermost Bird is earnestly employed in looking down after his fallen companion, and keeps chattering to it till he becomes the next victim.

During winter in Siberia they take these Birds in the following manner: A certain number of poles are laid horizontally on forked sticks, in the open forests of birch, small bundles of corn, by way of allurement, are tied on them, and at a small distance, certain tall baskets, of a conic shape, are set, with the broadest part uppermost; just within the mouth of the basket, is placed a small wheel, through which passes an axis so nicely fixed, as to admit it to play very readily, and on the least touch, either on one side or the other, to drop down, and again recover its situation. The Black Grous are soon attracted by the corn on the horizontal poles, first alight upon them, and after a short repast, fly to the baskets, and attempt to settle on their tops, when the wheel drops sideways, and they fall headlong into the trap, which is sometimes found half full. In Little Russia, the price of a pair, Cock and Hen, is one shilling and sixpence, a brace of partridges ten-pence, and a hare seven-pence halfpenny.

Red Grous, Moorcock, or Red Game.

These birds mostly frequent the northern parts of this island, the nearest approach towards the south, is Staffordshire; they are very plentiful in the wild, heathy, and mountainous tracts of Cumberland, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Wales, and are very abundant in the Highlands of Scotland. Mr. PENNANT supposes it to be peculiar to Britain, and that those found in the mountainous parts of France, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere, as mentioned by M. BUFFON, are probably varieties of this kind, and doubtless would breed with it.

The Male weighs nineteen ounces, although one was killed near Richmond in Yorkshire, which weighed twenty-five, and is in length, fifteen inches and a half; the bill is black, nostrils covered with small red and black feathers; the irides hazel; at the base of the lower mandible, is a white spot on each side; the throat is red; each eye is arched with a naked spot of a bright scarlet colour; the plumage on the head and neck is of a light tawny red; each feather. is marked with several transverse bars of black; the back and scapular feathers are of a deeper