eer

 

It was situated at the foot of a rock, which afforded shelter from the rain ;

aid of my dog, I found one nest.
the hollow was slight and lined with dry grass. This nest contains ten eggs.

“I made a post-mortem examination of a male in the spring; the crop contained Z7iticum repens, a
great many blossoms of the ranunculus, and some twenty hymenopterous insects, all of one species.
The crop of a male which I killed in the autumn was empty, whilst that of a female contained five
blossoms of Zuravacum, a little grass, and some leaves of different sorts. With the exception of the
shepherds, no one in the country is acquainted with these birds ; and the native hunter does not care to
expend his powder on such insignificant game, preferring to save it for Deer and Ibex, which abound and
afford both flesh and leather, and also to destroy the wolves and bears. This bird is, in their eyes, of no
more value than a sparrow; and their astonishment was great indeed at seeing us so earnestly occupied
in the pursuit of such game. Notwithstanding this, the bird is known by different names in different
districts. The Lerzgines call it Ryezta, the Tonhines Roczo, the Tartars Aara-touch (Black Fowl) or
Mesza-touch (Wood-Fowl).

‘Shooting these birds with either pointer or setter is next to impossible in the mountains, where the
walking is excessively heavy, and where you cannot always follow the dog, let alone the difficulty of shooting
flying whilst standing in an awkward and not unfrequently a dangerous position. It also often happens that
one cannot get within shot of a tree upon which one finds the Grouse ‘treed’ and quietly watching the
dog as he keeps barking at him. When the bird is thus hunted and ‘treed’ by a dog, it always allows
the gunner to come within easy range, so as to ensure his killing it. The bird is so little afraid of man
that my companion, after shooting the male out of a tree, has also secured the female with which he was
in company, she having only flown a few paces further on and perched again, allowing him time to reload
whilst she sat there, and he then shot her down. ‘This sport (2) is best in the spring, without a dog; for
one can see the birds at a great distance amongst the herbage, which is neither high nor dense at that
season, whereas in the autumn shooting the present species is much more difficult, as it is by no means
easy to find the birds amongst the high grass-tufts, which are, moreover, very slippery.”

The male in the accompanying Plate is drawn a little less than the natural size, with a reduced figure of

a female in the background.

a eS ee SY ON A NY Pe D) OVS ary Ne