lour
but green. Taking into consideration the nature of the Sierra Nevada, we
found this pass an excellent one for horses; and, with a little labour,
or, perhaps, with a more perfect examination of the localities, it might
be made sufficiently practicable for waggons."

FREMONT'S _Travels_.

* * * * *

THE GROUSE.

[Illustration: Letter W.]

We have but few European birds presenting more points of interest in
their history than the Grouse, a species peculiar to the northern and
temperate latitudes of the globe. Dense pine forests are the abode of
some; others frequent the wild tracts of heath-clad moorland, while the
patches of vegetation scattered among the rocky peaks of the mountains,
afford a congenial residence to others. Patient of cold, and protected
during the intense severities of winter by their thick plumage, they
give animation to the frozen solitude long after all other birds have
retired from the desolate scenery. Their food consists of the tender
shoots of pines, the seeds of plants, the berries of the arbutus and
bilberry, the buds of the birch and alder, the buds of the heather,
leaves, and grain. The nest is very simply constructed, consisting of
dried grasses placed upon the ground and sheltered among the herbage.

Two species of this bird, called forest grouse, are indigenous in
England: one is the black grouse, common in the pine woods of Scotland
and of the northern part of England, and elsewhere; the other is the
capercailzie or cock of the woods. Formerly, in Ireland, and still more
recently in Scotland, this noble bird, the most magnificent of the whole
of the grouse tribe, was abundant in the larger woods; but it gradually
disappeared, from the indiscriminate slaughter to which it was subject.
Selby informs us that the last individual of this species in Scotland
was killed about forty years ago, near Inverness. It still abounds in
the pine forests of Sweden and Norway, and an attempt has been made by
the Marquis of Breadalbane to re-introduce it into Scotland.

The red grouse, or moor grouse, is found in Scotland; and it is somewhat
singular that this beautiful bird should not be known on the Continent,
abundant as it is on the moorlands of Scotland, England, and Ireland.
The breeding season of the red grouse is very early in spring, and the
female deposits her eggs, eight or ten in number, in a high tuft of
heather. The eggs are peculiarly beautif