Red grouse in the Scottish Highlands

Red grouse in the Scottish Highlands

Snowfall in the Scottish Highlands shouldn’t make the feet of the red grouse too cold, because its legs and toes are covered with pale feathers. That’s the inspiration for this ground-dwelling bird’s scientific name ‘lagopus scoticus,’ which translates from Greek to English as ‘hare foot of Scotland.’ You can find this cold-tolerant grouse on most of the British Isles, where it feeds on the heather in the English, Irish and Scottish moors.