propagation in confinement, whence, in a few years, a stock could be reared in some suitable locality, where there was a strict protection. In various parts of Northern Europe, also, we have the authority of Mr. Loyd, Nilsson, and others, for their being not unfrequently domesticated.

"In its habits in a wild state, all our accounts agree in stating their close alliance to those of the black cock. They frequent forests, and those wild tracts of country, which, we imagine, are partially interspersed with native brushwood, intermingled with patches of old timber, where they feed on the tender shoots, the buds, and berries which those regions furnish. In breeding time the male attracts the females by his call, on some eminence or open spot, and, after that season has passed, retires and skulks to undergo the process of moulting; the female alone performs the duties of incubation, and the brood continues with her until the males begin to change their plumage. Such, at least, is the information we draw from the works of those gentlemen who have had occasional opportunities of observing them. The poulterers, in London and Edinburgh, now import them in considerable quantities, along with the other northern grouse, after the season has terminated here, and we rather think that many must be then procured after the season of courtship has commenced. In this present spring (1840), several pairs were for sale in the latter city, and in very good condition, and one guinea was the price asked for a male in a tolerable state of plumage. We have also received specimens from Newcastle, where we understand the importation is frequent at a similar period. They may be brought to table as a curiosity, but those we have tasted were coarse and highly flavoured with the fir; but during summer they may lose this, and the young birds may be very palatable.

"Before passing from this species, we must shortly notice the Tetrao medius of authors, of which there are slight indications of its having once existed in Scotland, and, if the supposition of those ornithologists who consider it as a hybrid between the capercailzie and the black cock be correct, we see no reason why the occasional crossing should not have taken place in this country, as well as in Norway or Sweden. The continental ornithologists generally, we believe, adopt the theory of hybridity, and it has been assented to, or at least not contradicted, by those of this country. One residing at a distance from their haunts cannot be expected to go narrowly into the question, and the following remarks are made with the view of directing the attention of persons who have the opportunity, to a fact which we do not consider as yet satisfactorily proved. The bird in the dress of T. medius, appears to be far too common for a hybrid; since the introduction of game from Northern Europe, it is to be procured almost every spring in the poultry shops of some of the larger towns, and Mr. Yarrell speaks to as many as seven specimens, during ten years, in the shops of one poulterer in London. But among all the specimens we have examined, and in those of our own collection, there was, and is, no difference whatever in the plumage of the specimens they are exactly similar. Now, in hybrids, we should expect, and do find, not two species similar. The intermediate form of the bird is just that which we would look for to intervene between the capercailzie, or the round-tailed grouse of America, and the extreme of development seen in the black cock. On the other side, we have an intermediate form between them and the long acuminated tail of the cock of the plains. The scarcity of the females we would attribute to their being confused with the true capercailzie hens, which vary so much in size. The similarity of the specimens we, however, consider now as the strongest fact against the hybrid theory; and even if a differently marked specimen should occur, and they can bear no proportion whatever to the resembling ones, we should consider it much more probable to be a cross between the presently considered hybrid and the capercailzie.

"A fine male specimen of the capercailzie will sit fully two feet above the branch on which he is perched; and will be in total length from two feet ten inches to three feet. The bill very powerful, is yellowish-white, darker towards

the base; the whole head and neck is blackish-grey; the feathers of a lanceolate form, darker in their centres, and minutely freckled over with black; immediately below the chin they are elongated, and can be raised at will, these are of a deep black, and are edged with a glossy border of green and purple; underneath each eye there is a white patch; the centre of the back and wings are rich orange-coloured brown, marked in wavy lines of freckles of brownishblack; the quills are reddish umber-brown; the lower parts of the back and rump have a ground colour of grey or brownish-grey, thickly marked with broad wavy lines of black, giving the whole, at a little distance, an appearance of blackish-grey; the centre upper tail coverts are elongated, are nearly black, clouded with brownish-grey, and have the tips of each white; the tail is black, marked at about two inches from the extremity with broken white patches, which form a wavy interrupted band across; the breast is bright, shining greenish-black, shaded with purplish reflections on the sides, the feathers of a very fine and close texture, and presenting a surface that would turn ordinary shot striking it directly; the belly and other parts of the under surface are glossy black, in the centre interspersed with patches of white; on the sides and flanks the feathers have the grey or brownish-grey ground colour, freckled with black; the tarsi are feathered with brownish-grey plumes, very much elongated behind, and approaching to the loose texture of those in the true moorfowl; they are double the length of the hind toe, which they completely conceal.

"The females appear to vary considerably in size. One procured in the some cargo which contained the above described male, is only from two to three and twenty inches in length, and would not sit more than seventeen inches high. The general appearance of the markings are similar to those of the grey hen, ochreous brown, barred with black, but the colours are clearer, the barring broader and more distinct, the edges of the feathers being always paler; the centre of the breast, where the rich green of the male is seen, is of a uniform tint of rich brownish-orange, in parts slightly marked with freckles, where the bars are placed. The bill is dark horn colour, paler towards the tip. In another female from Russia, now before us, the entire length is twenty-two inches.

"THE BLACK GROUSE OF BLACK COCK, TETRAO TETRIX.-Linn.-Tetrao tetrix of authors.-Tetras birkhan, Temm.-Lyrurus tetrix, Swain.—Black Grouse or Black Cock.-Grey Hen of British authors.-This species is pretty generally spread over Europe, being met with in France and Germany, and even so far to the south as in Italy; and as we reach the north, in Russia, Norway, Siberia, Scandinavia, and in Lapland. In Britain it occurs in the two countries, being most sparingly distributed, however, in England; the New Forest in Hampshire, Somerset, Dartmoor and Exmoor in Devonshire;† the wild parts of Staffordshire and Lancashire, and so on, until we reach the 'border,' where it becomes abundant in the wild districts which conduct us to its still more frequent haunts in Scotland. There it is abundant, and may be found in most of the districts which are suited for it, extending north to Sutherland, and to the islands of Mull and Skye. In Ireland, Mr. Thompson informs us, it long since became extinct, though in Smith's History of Cork (1749) it is mentioned as frequent.'

"The favourite abodes of the black grouse are subalpine sheep countries, where there is, comparatively, little heath, where there are moist flats or meadows, abounding with a rank and luxuriant herbage, and where the glades and passes among the hills are clothed with natural brushwood of birch and hazel, willow and alder, and have a tangled bottom of deep fern. These afford an abundant supply of food, with shelter from the cold at night, and the scorching rays of a midsummer sun.

"The black cock is polygamous. In the warmer sunny days, at the conclusion of winter, and commencement of spring, the males, after feeding, may Macgillivray.

* Savi.

+ Yarrell.

be seen arranged on some turf fence, rail, or sheep-fold, pluming their wings, expanding their tails, and practising, as it were, their love-call. If the weather now continues warm, the flocks soon separate, and the males select some conspicuous spots, from whence they endeavour to drive all rivals, and commence to display their arts to allure the females. The places selected at such seasons are generally elevations, the turf enclosure of a former sheep-fold, which has been disused, and is now grown over, or some of those beautiful spots of fresh and grassy pasture which are well known to the inhabitants of a pastoral district. Here, after perhaps many battles have been fought and rivals vanquished, the noble full-dressed black cock takes his stand, commencing at the first dawn of day, and, where the game is abundant, the hill on every side repeats the humming call; they strut around the spots selected, trailing their wings, inflating the throat and neck, and puffing up the plumage of these parts and the now brilliant wattle above the eyes, raising and expanding the tail, and displaying the beautifully contrasting white under tail covers. He is soon heard by the females, who crowd around their lord and master. This season of admiration does not continue long; the females disperse to seek proper situations for depositing their eggs, while the males, losing their feeling for love and fighting, reassemble in small parties, and seek the shelter of the brush and fern beds to complete a new moult, and are seldom seen, except early in the morning or at evening, when they exhibit a degree of timidity, the very reverse of their former boldness and vigilance. The old males continue separate until winter, and afterwards seem to display an inclination to flock by themselves; but in many cases they join with the young broods, and all resort, morning and evening, to some favourite feeding grounds, spending the middle part of the day in rest, or in basking, pluming, or sporting upon some sunny hill side. Upon the females devolves the whole duty of rearing and protecting the young; the nest is made upon the ground, not far from water, and the young, when hatched, are conveyed to the low rushy hollows, where there is abundance of food, supplied by the tender seeds of the rushes and alpine grasses. The young are seldom full grown before the 1st of September; and even at this season, if they have been undisturbed previously, they will almost suffer themselves to be lifted from before the pointers. During summer, the general food is the seeds of the various grasses, and the berries of the different alpine plants; in winter, the tender shoots of the fir, catkins of birch and hazel, heath, and even the leaves of fern, and these often give their peculiar flavour to the flesh. But in the lower districts, where, indeed, this bird is most abundant, the gleaning of the stubble yields a plentiful meal. Fields of turnip and rape are also favourite feeding places, and the leaves supply a more grateful food during hard frost than they could elsewhere procure. In some places, flocks of hundreds assemble at feeding times, and, although at this time they are extremely shy and wary, the fences and enclosures often allow them to be approached within shot."

THE FARMER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA.

By Cuthbert W. Johnson, Esq.,

F.R.S. Part VIII. London: Longman and Co.

THE present number of this valuable Dictionary of Rural Affairs comprises every needful topic, under the letters N to R. Among the most prominent are the articles Oak, Oat, Organic Chemistry, Peat Soils, Plantation, Plough, Ploughing, Potato, Pruning, Rake, &c. &c., besides copious information under numerous minor heads. The cuts of ploughs of various nations, from the most ancient times down to the present day, are highly interesting, and appear clearly and accurately executed. The department of Natural History will be

referred to with gratification by the sportsman; and the country gentleman and practical agriculturist will find the work an indispensable book of reference.

We regret we have only space for the subjoined brief extract, relating to a subject of much concern to the proprietors of horses:

"The land intended for oats should be ploughed, if possible, especially on clay soils, in the previous winter, or at least as early in the spring as possible. this is a practice almost always adopted by the best farmers of our island. Α still more common course of cropping is to sow oats after turnips, or other green crops, and especially on the four-shift system with grass seeds."

"A miserable custom still prevails in some parts of England, of taking two crops of oats in succession, or an oat crop after wheat or barley. Arthur Young long since denounced this as bad husbandry. After observing that white oats should be sown in March in preference to any other season, he remarked that in the general conduct of them the farmer should by all means avoid the common error of sowing after other corn crops, by which they exhaust the land. They should always receive the same preparation as barley, nor ought a good husbandman to think of their not paying him as well for such attention as that crop. It is a very mistaken idea to suppose it more profitable to sow barley on land in good order than oats. He was, from divers experiments, inclined to think that oats will equal, and in many cases exceed, barley. The superior quantity of the produce will ever be found to more than counterbalance the inferiority of the price, which, however, sometimes exceeds that of barley.'

"What good reasons are to be offered,' he adds, for sowing oats on land in such bad order that barley is not to be ventured in, I know not. The common argument is their hardiness, which will give a middling produce, about sufficient to pay expenses, and leave a trifling profit, when no other crop will do the like. But this is only proving them to be assistants of bad husbandry; nor is such a paltry profit, granting false premises (for I am well persuaded that common oat crops, among bad farmers, are but so much loss), an object that ever ought to influence good husbandmen. Why should a good farmer be at all solicitous to gain 10s. an acre profit by oats after barley? Suppose,' he continues, his course to be,-1, turnips; 2, barley; 3, oats; or-1, fallow; 2, wheat; 3, oats: in either of these courses, or in any other, where the oats follow another crop of corn, the profit of them must be small. What comparison with sowing clover with the barley, which will pay far more profit, and at the same time prepare, in the best manner, for that most beneficial crop, wheat? What but a fallow, or a fallow crop, can succeed the oats? How unprofitable, compared to the clover system! For these reasons, I cannot but recommend that oats should be considered in the same light as barley, and never sown unless the land be in proper order for barley, or to sow them after a fallow crop, and clover with them, in the same manner as barley.'

"And to the practice of sowing them after turnips the same 'observations which have been made on barley are equally applicable. The farmer should,' he says, 'in the distribution of his farm, consider which of these two crops is likely to pay him best. This will very much depend on his soil. Warm forward lands yield as many quarters of barley, perhaps, as of oats; but upon various other soils, the produce of oats, compared with that of barley, will be as four to three, and on some as five to three. He should also take into consideration,' he adds, the greater steadiness of price which oats have generally yielded, in comparison of the price of barley; circumstances which may reasonably induce him to sow them in a larger proportion than is common among his neighbours. On the other hand, it is not to be forgotten that they exhaust

more.

COURSING REGISTER.

The returns are confined to the running at Public Meetings.

LANARKSHIRE AND RENFREWSHIRE CLUB, FEB. 24.
Stewards: Messrs. A. Graham and A. Pollok.

Judge: Mr. Dunlop, of Stewarton. Slipper: Mr. M'Donald.
The CHAMPION COLLAR AND STAKES.

beat

Mr. A. Graham's bk. b. Molly Loo.
Mr. A. Graham's y. d. Prince of Wales.

Sir W. A. Maxwell's bd. d. Monarch
Mr. A. Pollok's r. and w. d. Hurricane Slap
Deciding Course: Mr. A. Pollok's Hurricane Slap beat Sir W. A. Maxwell's Monarch, and won
the Stakes.

The PATTERSTON

STAKES.

Mr. J. L. Ewing's bk. d. Earl

Mr. A. Pollok's bd. d. Douglas

beat Mr. A. Graham's bk. and w. b. Oddity.
Mr. A. Pollok's r. d. Philip.

Deciding Course: Mr. J. L. Ewing's Earl beat Mr. A. Pollok's Douglas, and won the Stakes.

The CROOKSTON STAKES, for puppies.

Mr. A. Graham's bk. b. The Miller's only} beat Sir W. A. Maxwell's bd. and w. d. Clyde.

Daughter
Sir W. A. Maxwell's bd. and w. b. Moss Rose

Mr. A. Graham's bk. d. The Lord of the Isles.

Mr. A. Pollok's y. b. Madge ran a bye.

Ties: The Miller's only Daughter beat Madge, Moss Rose ran a bye.

Deciding Course: Sir W. A. Maxwell's Moss Rose beat Mr. A. Graham's The Miller's only Daughter, and won the Stakes.

Ties: Lively beat Dublin, Lammermoor beat Liberty.
Deciding Course: Mr. J. L. Ewing's Lively and Lammermoor-Lively named the winner.

The DARNLEY STAKES, No. 2.

Mr. Crauford's w. and bk. b. Black-eyed Susan beat Mr. Wilson's r. d. Peter Simple.
Mr. A. Graham's bk. d. Eighteen
Mr. J. L. Ewing's bk. d. Longwaist.

Deciding Course: Mr. A. Graham's Eighteen beat Mr. Crauford's Black-eyed Susan, and won the Stakes.

SOUTH LANCASHIRE CLUB (BROUGHTON) MEETING, FEB. 24 and 25.

Stewards: Messrs. B. Robinson, Bake, King, Bennett, and Buckley.

Hon. Sec. Mr. Bate. Judge: Mr. Nightingale.

The BROUGHTON CUP; sixteen all-aged dogs.

First Ties: Cardinal Puff beat Tomboy, Young Empress beat Bloomsbury, Gipsy beat Venus, Lincoln Green beat Unknown.

Second Ties: Young Empress beat Cardinal Puff, Gipsy beat Lincoln Green.

Deciding Course: Mr. Houghton's Gipsy beat Mr. Bennett's Young Empress, and won the Stakes.