BLACKCOCK, IlEATir-Fowl., or BLACK GROUSE, Tefrao tetri.r, a species of grouse (q.v.), abundant in Britain wherever there are moors of considerable extent, and more particularly where there are bogs and morasses with rank herbage, or, adjacent to the moors. natural woods or young plantations of pine and fir. Comparatively rare in the s. of England, the B. becomes more common towards the n., and is very plentiful in the mountainous parts of Scotland. It is found in some of the Ilebrides, but not in the Orkney or Shetland isles. On the continent of Europe, it occurs both in mountainous and marshy countries, as on the Alps and in Holland; it is found as far s. as the Apen nines, and as far n as the forests of Lapland; it abounds in most parts of Scandinavia, where it is carefully protected, the males only being killed, great numbers of which are sent to the London market; it is diffused over almost all parts of Russia, and is found in Siberia. The male is much larger than the female, sometimes weighing as much as 4 lbs., whilst the female weighs only about 2 lbs.; they also differ very much in plumage. The male is of a shining bluish-black color, with a conspicuous white. bar on the wings below the ends of the great wing-coverts, and a mixture of black and white on the legs; there is a piece of bare scarlet skin over the eye; the miter feathers on each side of the tail are elongated and curve outwards, giving it a very peculiar appearance. The female, called the gray lien, is of a rust color, darkest on the upper parts, everywhere barred and mottled with a darker color; the tail is straight and even at The end. The young males resemble the females in plumage. The shank in this species is feathered, but not the toes. It is a gregarious bird, the different sexes, however, in winter, gen erally keeping in flocks by themselves. In spring. the males resort to elevated and open
spots, where they crow. and also make a sound which has been likened to the whetting of a scythe, thus inviting the females to repair to them; they strut and trail their wings like turkey.cocks, and tierce contests often take place among them. They are polyg amous, and pay no attention to the female during incubation. nor do they take any part in rearing the young.—The nest is of the simplest construction, a few straws or the like, placed together among tall heath, or under the shelter of a low Mirk bush. The eggs, six to eight in number, are yellowish-white. speckled with orange-brown. and about 2 in. long. The food of the B. consists of the seeda of rushes and other plants. berries. insects, the tender shoots of heath. leaves, etc.; it sometimes visits cornfields and smithies to feed on corn; is frequently to be found in turnip-fields in the neighbor hood of plantations in billy districts; and, at least in whiter, cats the young shoots of pines, firs, birches, and alders. It is highly esteemed for the table.
It seems to be well established that hybrids are oeeasionally produced between the B. and other species of grouse; and also between the B. and the pheasant; hut this sub ject, although regarded with intielt interest by some of the greatest naturalists, has not yet received the mvestifnition which it deserves. and nothing appears to be known con cerning any offspring of such hybrids. Sec British Birds, ii. 1t can only be deemed probable, not certain, that the bird called tetrao Itylorklus, sometimes found in the Scandinavian peninsula and other parts of Europe, is a hybrid between the B. and the capercailzie (q.v.).