202 INSESSORES CURSORES. 



dred, they resort, morning and evening, to the barn- 

 yard, and feed around the grain-stacks, in company 

 with the poultry, where they receive their portion, 

 as it is scattered amongst them by the hand of the 

 owner." * 



Of the Grouse family we number six species, only 

 three of which are found to the eastward of the 

 vicinity of the Mississippi river ; these are the Canada 

 Grouse, found only northward from the northern 

 part of New York, and the Ruffed and Pinnated 

 Grouse, which are very abundant, the former every- 

 where north of Maryland, and the latter pretty 

 generally distributed from Texas to Canada, more 

 common in the west than to the eastward. These 

 two species are, probably, next to the Wild Turkey, 

 the finest game-birds which our Eastern States pro- 

 duce. The markets of our cities are mostly well 

 supplied with them during winter ; the tenderness 

 and delicacy of their flesh, and the fineness of its 

 flavor, render it a great. favorite with our epicures. 



The Pinnated Grouse, or Prairie Hen, as it is 

 called in the West, although clad in very plain col- 

 ors, is nevertheless a handsome and stately bird, es- 

 pecially when, during the love season, he struts 

 about among his rivals with tail erect and expanded, 

 his head thrown backward, the lateral feathers on 

 the neck spread to their utmost, the orange-colored 

 drums beneath them swelled with air, and the wings 

 stiffened and drooping in the manner of the Turkey 



* Proceedings of Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila- 

 delphia, 1851. 



