Alone on English moors I've seen the Black Cock stray,
Sounding his earnest love-note on the air.
--ANON.
Well known as the Black Cock is supposed to be, we fancy few of our
readers have ever seen a specimen. It is a native of the more southern
countries of Europe, and still survives in many portions of the British
Islands, especially those localities where the pine woods and heaths
afford it shelter, and it is not driven away by the presence of human
habitation.
The male bird is known to resort at the beginning of the nesting season
to some open spot, where he utters his love calls, and displays his new
dress to the greatest advantage, for the purpose of attracting as many
females as may be willing to consort with him. His note when thus
engaged is loud and resonant, and can be heard at a considerable
distance. This crowing sound is accompanied by a harsh, grating,
stridulous kind of cry which has been compared to the noise produced by
whetting a scythe. The Black Cock does not pair, but leaves his numerous
mates to the duties of maternity and follows his own desires while they
prepare their nests, lay their eggs, hatch them, and bring up the young.
The mother bird, however, is a fond, watchful parent, and when she has
been alarmed by man or a prowling beast, has been known to remove her
eggs to some other locality, where she thinks they will not be
discovered.
The nest is carelessly made of grasses and stout herbage, on the ground,
under the shelter of grass and bushes. There are from six to ten eggs
of yellowish gray, with spots of light brown. The young are fed first
upon insects, and afterwards on berries, grain, and the buds and shoots
of trees.
The Black Grouse is a wild and wary creature. The old male which has
survived a season or two is particularly shy and crafty, distrusting
both man and dog, and running away as soon as he is made aware of
approaching danger.
In the autumn the young males separate themselves from the other sex and
form a number of little bachelor establishments of their own, living
together in harmony until the next nesting season, when they all begin
to fall in love; "the apple of discord is thrown among them by the
charms of the hitherto repudiated sex, and their rivalries lead them
into determined and continual battles, which do not cease until the end
of the season restores them to peace and sobriety."
The coloring of the female is quite different from that of the male
Grouse. Her general color is brown, with a tinge of orange, barred with
black and speckled with the same hue, the spots and bars being larger on
the breast, back, and wings, and the feathers on the breast more or less
edged with white. The total length of the adult male is about twenty-two
inches, and that of the female from seventeen to eighteen inches. She
also weighs nearly one-third less than her mate, and is popularly termed
the Heath Hen.