like partridges, in stubbles: black-game are very destructive to crops of grain. Red grouse do not frequent woods. Their nests are generally found in heather; those of black-game in rushy fields or plantations. The eggs of the former are often taken by persons collecting plovers' eggs; and as they are easily found, the temptation to pilfer but too often presents itself. A child may thus do more mischief than the most accomplished poacher. Loiterers at this season should be watched. The Blackcocks, during winter, associate together aloof from the grey-hens and red-grouse. grey-hens also pack distinct from the cocks. Red grouse are never found on moors, where water does not lie within a convenient distance in seasons of drought. Black-game seem to disregard this inconvenience; probably, being larger birds, they can endure a longer flight in search of water. Black-game are scattered over the whole of the North of Europe. They are found, more or less abundant, in all the Northern, in most of the Midland, and in some of the Southern counties of England. Red grouse are not met with further south than Derbyshire, Cheshire, and Staffordshire. Both abound in Scotland: and in Ireland they are more plentiful than in England. The red grouse only is met with in Wales. Similar to the blackcock, in many respects is the capercailzie, or cock of the wood, once the native, and now the denizen of the Highland forests. The capercailzie cock weighs sixteen pounds. Speaking * of this bird, as it exists in Sweden, Mr. Lloyd says, "The favourite haunts of the capercali are extensive fir woods; in coppices or small cover he is seldom or never found. The principal food of the capercali, when in a state of nature, consists of the leaves of the Scotch fir; he very rarely, however, feeds upon those of the spruces; he also eats juniper berries, cranberries, blaeberries, and other berries common to the Northern forests; and occasionally also, in the winter time, the buds of the birch, &c. The young capercali feed principally at first on ants, worms, insects, &c." It was the felling of the timber, aided, perhaps, by the cross-bow, which is not ill-adapted to the purpose, that exterminated this primeval habitant of the old Caledonian forests. Some years since an attempt was made to re-introduce this bird to its ancient haunts in Scotland, but without success. "It is a pity," continues Mr. Lloyd, "that attempts are not made once more to introduce the capercali into the United Kingdom, for, if the experiment was undertaken with judgment, it would most probably be attended with success; the climate, soil &c. in Scotland, at least, not being very dissimilar, in many respects, to the south of Sweden. In Scotland, besides, independently of the natural forests, there are now considerable tracks of land planted with pines, from which trees, when the ground is covered with snow, those birds obtain * Field Sports of the North of Europe. nearly the whole of their sustenance." Since he wrote this, several brace of these birds have been sent over from Sweden; and, on the forest lands of the Marquis of Breadalbane, the experiment of localising them is now in the course of trial, and we doubt not that the cock of the wood will become permanently established in the Scottish Highlands. It may be inferred that the same description of country (the heaths and forests being on a more extended scale,) which suits black-game, would likewise suit the capercailzie, since they occasionally breed together, the product being a hybrid which does not perpetuate its species. "In the forest," Mr. Lloyd observes, "the capercali does not always present an easy mark; for, dipping down from the pines nearly to the ground, as is frequently the case, they are often out of distance before one can properly take aim. No. 1 or 2 shot may answer very well, at short range, to kill the hens; but for the cocks, the sportsman should be provided with much larger. "Towards the commencement of, and during the continuance of winter, the capercali are generally in packs; these, which are usually composed wholly of cocks, (the hens keeping apart,) do not separate until the approach of spring. These packs, which are sometimes said to contain fifty or a hundred birds, usually hold the sides of the numerous lakes and morasses with which the Northern forests abound; and to stalk the same in the winter-time with a good rifle is no ignoble amusement." THE PTARMIGAN. We have now for some time traversed, with the reader, the highest hills that are covered with heather, but there are heights beyond. The poet says, For Liberty! go seek Earth's highest rocks and ocean's deepest caves! It may be admissible in poetry to give the highest cliffs to the king of birds, but zoology assigns a lower elevation to the "eagle's birth-place;" yes, you may ascend above the aërie of the eagle, where the croak of the raven is never heard, where the fox and the weazel but seldom disturb the lonely habitants. You may ascend until, in the glowing language of Mr. Mudie,+" you begin at last to feel alone, severed entirely from the world of society, of life, and of growth, and committed to the solitude of the ancient hills and immeasurable sky. The snow lies thick on the side of the summit, and even peers over the top, defying the utmost efforts of solstitial heat. There is no plant under your feet, save lichen on the rock, apparently as hard and as strong as that to which it adheres-it can hardly be said to grow-and moss in some crevice, undistinguishable from the dull and cold mud into which the storms of many winters have abraded the granite. * Rienzi, a Tragedy. (1st edit.) London. The Feathered Tribes of the British Islands. By Robert Mudie. 2d edition. 1835. You are above the reach of all sound from the inhabited parts of the country."***"A few mottled pebbles, or at least what appear to be such, each about twice the size of your hand, lie at some distance, where the decomposed rock, and the rudiments of what may be called the most elevated mountain vegetation, just begin to ruffle the surface. By and by a cloud shadows the sun, the air blows chill as November, and a few drops fall, freezing or melting in their descent, you cannot well tell which. The mottled pebbles begin to move; you throw a stone at them to shew that you can move pebbles as well as the mountain. The stone hits beyond them; they run toward your feet, as if claiming your protection; they are birds,ptarmigan, the uppermost tenants of the island, whom not even winds, which could uproot forests, and frosts, which could all but congeal mercury, can drive from these their mountain haunts. has often been observed, that of all the human inhabitants of the earth, the mountaineer, be his mountain ever so barren, is the last to quit; and the same holds true of the mountain bird." It The same writer traces the different elevations at which various species of game is found, beginning with the pheasant, as the tenant of the lowermost woods; the partridge, of the plain; the blackcock, of the confines of cultivation; the grouse, of the lesser hills and mountain-side; and the ptarmigan, of the snow-crowned summits. He also adds, "in these birds we trace a sort of resemblance to the general colour of the places |