It may be said that there isn’t a different infallible technique of arriving on the sex of a Grouse at certain times of the 12 months, for it has so usually occurred that experienced and cautious gamekeepers, who have handled Grouse for a lifetime, have certified a specimen as a cock, when the specimen has turned out to be a hen, and vice versa. Even in a younger bird the ovary reveals ova with enough distinctness to make doubt as to its sex an impossibility; however in a very young male fowl the testes may be so small, and, being fairly often black, could look so not like what is expected that both must be sought for and located earlier than arriving at a sure conclusion as to sex. Probably most sportsmen might be guided better by the energy of the hen upon the wing than by the black tail feathers,, nonetheless clearly seen in a half-grown chick. 2 and 1 are discovered to have grown into such long and strong feathers as to fall into the collection of latest replacement feathers, and so they remain, now fully grown, and they can be recognised (K) by their extra pointed ends having somewhat extra of the buff markings on them than have the remainder of the primaries just grown from No. 9 to No. 3. No. 3, moreover, being the latest of the entire series of primaries to emerge, is for a time the shortest one; and, even when so long as No. 2, shall be still the last one grown, and will due to this fact upon withdrawal produce blood at the quill finish when squeezed between the finger and thumb.
The cheeks are typically a clear bronze or chestnut-crimson colour; so are the feathers of the chin, throat, fore-neck, and higher breast, giving the chook a very rich uniform red color all over the top and neck. The grits of the gizzard in an outdated bird appear to be larger and extra worn into rounded pebble shapes, the rationale for this has been discussed elsewhere. This groove persists often for some little time, and is an infallible sign that the chicken is over a yr old no less than. It is just vital, however, to look at a few young Grouse chicks of varied ages to be convinced that more than a bit of of the black rectrices should seem before the fowl is shot. Diagrammatic Representation of the growth of Primaries in the Young Grouse. 9, 8, 7, and so forth have been shed, and in their place have appeared sturdy feather -roots rising strong, round-ended, uniform black primaries, as a substitute of the weak, mottled, extra narrowly pointed hen primaries. This reasoning is predicated upon the next facts: When the chick produces its first set of major wing feathers they are all very skinny and weak, and shortly turn out to be frayed out; they have rather slender pointed ends, arc blackish-brown, in colour mottled with incomplete buff bars.
Even in December and January they are so imperfectly pink as compared with the identical pink feathers in the male that one could almost say that red feathers are to be found on the chin of the hen solely from February to July, once they become conspicuous on account of the contrast in color with the increasing yellowness of the breeding plumage. The oviduct in a breeding hen is a big and conspicuous duct, and may, of course, contain an egg with the shell in course of formation, being pigmented in preparation for laying. The oviduct in a barren chook, or in a hen at different times than the breeding season, is a really much much less conspicuous object, and is less simply found than the small and undeveloped ovary. We must recollect that the dominating plumage of the male is the winter plumage, while that of the female is the summer or breeding plumage.
But within the autumn and winter it is comparatively straightforward to mistake the intercourse of some individuals, for when the hen has placed on her autumn plumage for the winter, and the cock has placed on his winter plumage, sure individuals of opposite intercourse are then indistinguishable, even to the practised eyes of the experienced gamekeeper. This persistence of winter-plumage feathers on the chin, lower breast, and abdomen is frequent to each cock and hen; however within the cock they stay, as a rule, till replaced by the following winter plumage, persisting throughout the autumn plumage change; whereas within the hen they are persistent solely to June or July, and are fully replaced in the course of the autumn change. Nine of those little feathers may be counted in collection, and the weakest of all is the ninth counting from the distal to the proximal finish. The feathers of the chin are a very useful indication of sex from August to November, practically all through the taking pictures season, for the chestnut-red feathers which may be discovered on the chin of the cock Grouse in each month of the yr shall be sought for in vain within the hen presently. If no ovary is seen, however a really small blackish, or whitish, or particoloured object is found in its place which is suspected of being a testis, the intestines must then be gently separated from their attachments in regards to the center line of the back, and the other testis must be sought for in about the identical position on the other aspect.