BLACKCOCK (ntrao tetrix), a Gallinaceous Bird belonging to the family Tetraonidw or Grouse, the female of which is known as the Grey Ben and the young as Poults. In size and plumage the two sexes offer a striking contrast, the male weighing about 4 lb, its plumage for the most part of a rich glossy black shot with blue and purple, the lateral tail feathers curved outwards so as to form, when raised, a fan-like cr.?,scent, and the eyebrows destitute of feathers and of a bright vermilion red. The female, on the other hand, weighs only 2 lb, its plumage is of a russet brown olour irregularly barred with black, and its tail feathers are of the ordinary form or but slightly forked. The males are polygamous, and during autumn and winter associate together, feeding in flocks apart from the females ; but with the approach of spring they separate, each selecting a locality for itself, from which it drives off all intruders, and where morning and evening it seeks to attract the other sex by a display of its beautiful plumage, which at this season attains its greatest perfection, and by a peculiar cry, which Selby describes as "a crowing note, and another similar to the noise made by the whetting of a scythe." Its nest, composed of a few stalks of grass, is built on the ground, usually beneath the shadow of a low bush or a tuft of tall grass, and here the female lays from six to ten eggs of a dirty-yellow colour speckled with dark brown. The blackcoek- then rejoins his male associates, and the female is left to perform the labours of hatching and rearing her young brood. The plumage of both sexes is at first like that of the female, but after moulting the young males gradually assume the more brilliant plumage of their sex. There are also many cases on record, and specimens may be seen in the principal museums, of old female birds assuming, to a greater or less extent, the plumage of the male. The blackcock is very generally distributed over the highland districts of Northern and Central Europe, and in some parts of Asia. It is found on the principal heaths in the south of England, but is specially abundant in the Highlands of Scotland, where great numbers are killed annually during the statutory shooting season, which commences on August 20 and extends to December 10. The bird does not occur in Ireland, and all attempts that have hitherto been made to naturalize it there have failed, although it now thrives and breeds in the south-west of Scotland within 21 miles of the Irish coast. During summer, blackcock reside chiefly on the ground, feeding on seeds, the young shoots of heath, and insects ; in autumn -they regularly frequent the stubble fields ; but in winter they perch on trees, especially the birch and fir, the tender shoots of which then form their principal food..