228 



AVES. 



In the only well-known species (Cr. coronatus, Tern.), the male has a long crest of thinly-barbed rufous feathers, 

 and some long barbless stems over each eyebrow. Plumage bright green and blue. [Another (Cr. niger), is wholly 

 black, with the female brown. There are two or three more, all from India and its islands]. 



The Grouse (Tetrao, Lin.) — 

 Form another great genus, characterized by a naked space, generally of a bright red colour, in place of 

 an eye-brow. It is subdivided in the following manner. 



The Restricted Grouse (Tetrao, Latham) — 

 Have feathered tarsi without spurs. Those to which we more particularly confine the name have 

 a rounded or forked tail, and naked toes. [They are polygamous, and spread the tail and strut in the 

 manner of Turkeys]. 



The Bearded or Wood Grouse, Capercailzie, or Cock of the Wood (T. urogaUus, Lin.), is the largest of the true 

 Poultry, surpassing the Turkey in size. Its plumage is slate-coloured, finely rayed with blackish, [the breast 

 shining bottle-green] ; female fulvous, barred with brown or blackish. It inhabits the extensive mountain forests 

 of the north of Europe, nestles in the heather or new ly-cleared grounds, and subsists on buds and berries, [and 

 particularly pine-shoots]. Its flesh is excellent, and the trachea makes two curves before entering the lungs. 



The Black Grouse (T. teirix, Lin). — Black, with some white on the wing-coverts and beneath the tail, the two 

 outermost feathers of which are forked and curled outward. Female fulvous, barbed with whitish and dusky 

 black. Their size that of the Domestic Cock and Hen. Found also in the European mountain forests. [There is 

 a nearly allied species in Siberia]. 



An intermediate species appears to exist in the north of Europe (T. intermedins, Langsdorf). [It is still very 

 doubtful whether this be not a hybrid between the Bearded and Black Grouse. 



Several more exist in North America ; one (T. cupido) is remarkable for a double nuchal crest, and an expan- 

 sile globular poach on the sides of the neck, of the colour and size of an orange, which is inflated when the bird 

 is strutting. Others, the Centroccrcus, Swainson, have sharp-pointed tail-feathers, and shorter wings : they inhabit 

 the open country, and do not perch. Such is T. tirophasianus, Bonap., the great Cock of the Plains, which is one 

 third smaller than the European Wood Grouse, with some inflatable skin on the sides of the neck. 



Others again, 



The Bonasia, Bonap. — 



Have a naked strip along the front of the tarsi, and the coronal feathers lengthened ; as] 



The Hazel Grouse (T. bonasia, Lin.). — Scarcely larger than a Partridge, and prettily mottled, grey and rufous. 

 Inhabits temperate Europe. [We have found its crop and stomach filled with birch catkins.] Another (T. umbetlus, 

 Gmelin), in North America, is about a third larger. 



The Ptarmigan (Lagnpus, Cuv.) — 

 Are species with a round or square tail, the toes of which are feathered like the tarsi. [They are 

 monogamous, and do not strut with expanded tail-feathers]. The more generally diffused species 

 become white in winter. 



The Common Ttarmigan (T. lagopus, Lin.). — Inhabits our highest mountains, and shelters itself, in winter, in 



holes which it burrows in the snow [a habit which is 

 also practised by the common Partridge.] The Willow 

 Ptarmigan (T. salieeti, Tern.), from the whole north, is 

 larger, with a stouter bill. [Though not found in 

 Britain, like the last, it is the common species of the 

 London markets. Another, still more densely clad 

 (L. bradydactyla, Gould), occurs in Russia, and there 

 are additional species in Iceland and in North America]. 



There is a Ptarmigan in Scotland, however, which 

 does not change colour in winter. 



The Heath Ptarmigan (T. scoticus, Latham). — [Com- 

 mon Moor-fowl, or Red Grouse of sportsmen, remark- 

 able for being quite restricted in its distribution to the 

 British islands : it renews its feathers twice a year, 

 however, like the others]. 



We may here separate by the name of 



The Gangas (Pterocles, Tern.) — 

 The species with a pointed tail and naked toes. 

 Fi g . 109.— sternum of Ganga. -phe circumference of the eyes alone is naked, and 



not of a red colour : their thumb is very small. [The wings are remarkably long and pointed, with the 



