Short sketches of the wild sports and natural history of the Highlands / From the journals of Charles St. John, esq.

  • Charles William George St John
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Short sketches of the wild sports and natural history of the Highlands / From the journals of Charles St. John, esq. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    chap, in.] BLACK GAME-GROUSE-PTARMIGAN. driven by a falcon into the garden, where he took refuge under a gooseberry bush and remained quiet till I picked him up. kept him for a day or two, and then, as he did not get recon- ciled to his prison, I turned him loose to try his fortune again in the woods. Like some other wary birds, the blackcock, when flushed at a distance, if you happen to be in Ins line of flig it, will pass over your head without turning off, as long as you re- main motionless. In some places, apparently well adapted or these birds, they will never increase, although left undisturbed and protected, some cause or other preventing their breeding. Where they take well to a place, they increase very rapidly, and, from their habit of taking long flights, soon find out the corn- fields, and are very destructive, more so, probably, than any other kind of winged game. A bold bird by nature, the black- cock, when in confinement, is easily tamed, and soon becomes familiar and attached to his master. In the woods instances are known of the blackcock breeding with the pheasant. I saw a hybrid of this kind at a bird-stuffer’s in Newcastle: it had been killed near Alnwick Castle. The bird was of a beautiful bronzed-brown colour, and partaking in a remarkable degree of the characteristics of both pheasant and black game. I ha\e heard also of a bird being killed which was supposed to be bred between grouse and black game, but I was by no means satisfied that it was anything but a peculiarly dark-coloured grouse. The difference of colour in grouse is very great, and on different ranges of hills is quite conspicuous. On some ranges the birds have a good deal of white on their breasts, on others they are nearly black: they also vary very much in size. Our other species of grouse, the ptarmigan, as every sportsman knows, is found only on the highest ranges of the Highlands. Living above all vegetation, this bird finds its scanty food amon-'st the loose stones and rocks that cover the summits of Ben Nevis and some other mountains. It is difficult to ascertain indeed what food the ptarmigan can find in sufficient quantities on the barren heights where they are found. Being visited by the sportsman but rarely, these birds are seldom at all shy or wild, but, if the day is fine, will come out from among the scat- tered stones, uttering their peculiar croaking cry, and running in flocks near the intruder on their lonely domain, offer, even to D
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