The exhibit you can see in the entrance hall of museum.
The history of exhibits of the month
The crossbred of a wood-grouse (Tetrao urogallus) and a black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix)
The crossbred of a wood-grouse and a black grouse could
be formerly found on the Bohemian territory every year because both the species
were living there and their crossbreeding was current. The crossbred reminds
more of the wood-grouse if its father is a wood-grouse cock. The descendant bred
by a black grouse cock with a wood-grouse hen is much more infrequent and it
looks like a black grouse.The documentation of
the occurence of crossbreds dates back to the time when both – wood-grouse and
black-grouse were still common species in our country. Nowadays they occur
rarely and therefore their crossbreeding is out of question. The wood grouse is
especially in full retreat even in the mountains where it used to be relatively
abundant. The croossbreds are not prolific. They also court giving out
unnatural croaking sounds. In spring they also appeared on cockpits and fought
with black grouse cocks. As to feed it is like their parents´. Owing to their
disposition they used to be disturbers of peace in hunting grounds, gamekeepers
did not like them and in any case they shot them as it is documented in old
hunting magazines. In the 19th
century this crossbred was denominated as a separate species – woodgrouse
intermediate (Tetrao medius). Our prominent ornithologist Dr. Vladislav
Šír wrote about it quite seriously as late as in the year 1890.
The exhibited specimen was shot at Němčí, in Ústí-region in the year 1910. (father:
black grouse cock, mother: wood-grouse hen). The visitors could see a wood-grouse
and a black grouse in this glass case (The exhibit of a month) last year.
Doc. RNDr. Ivo Flasar, Csc.