BLACKCOCK (Tetrao tetrix)

This article appears in Volume V04, Page 21 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BER-BLA

BLACKCOCK (Tetrao tetrix) , the English name given to a bird of the family Tetraonidae or grouse, the female of which is known as the grey hen 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

crescent

CRESCENT (Lat. crescens, growing)

, and the eyebrows destitute of feathers and of a

bright

BRIGHT, JOHN (1811-188g)
BRIGHT, SIR CHARLES TILSTON

vermilion red. The female,
on the other hand, weighs only 2 lb, its plumage is of a russet brown colour irregularly barred with black, and its tail feathers are 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

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

they

separate

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

SCYTHE

." The nest, composed of a few stalks of grass, is built on the ground, usually
Blackcock.
beneath the shadow of a low

bush

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 blackcock 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

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

of England, but is specially abundant in the Highlands of

Scotland

.

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