204 NEW-YORK FAUNA BIRDS. 



GENUS TETRAO. Linn^us. 



Bill short, robust, feathered at the base, and covering the nostrils. Wings short and round. 

 A bare colored space on each side of the neck, usually concealed by the feathers. A bare 

 red membrane over the eyes, more especially in the males. Head occasionally with a 

 slight crest. Legs partially or wholly feathered. 



THE COMMON PARTRIDGE, OR RUFFED GROUSE. 



Tetrao umbellus. 

 tlate lxxvii. fig. 174. 



Tetrao umbelhis. Linn^us, Syst. Wilson, Am. Ornithology, Vol.6, p. 45, pi. 49 (male). 

 T. (Bonasia) id. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. Nat. History, Vol.2, p. 12G. 

 Ruffed Grouse. Nuttall, Manual of U. S. Ornilh. Vol. 1, p. 057. 

 Id., Partridge Pheasant. Audubon, Orn. Biog Vol. 1, p. 211, and Vol. 5, p. 560. 



Ruffed Grouse. Rich. & Swainson, Fauna Bor. Am. Vol. 2, p 312. Audubon, Birds of America, Vol. 5, p. 

 73, pi. 293. Gikaud, Birds of Long island, p. 191. 



Characteristics. With a slight crest, most evident in the males. Mottled with reddish 

 and dusky brown. Lower portion of the tarsus and toes naked. Tail 

 elongated, rounded, with a black subtenninal band. Sides of the neck 

 with a ruff of blackish feathers. Length, 18' 0. 



Description. Body bulky. Tarsi naked at the lower portion, and without spurs. Tail 

 long, broad and rounded. Toes pectinated on the sides. The crest formed of two tufts of 

 broad feathers. On each side of the neck, a tuft of black feathers concealing a large naked 

 space. 



Color. Head and neck varied with yellowish red and dull white. Back chesnut ; the 

 feathers with a white spot margined with black, and this again with reddisli : all sprinkled 

 with black. Eye-stripe yellowish while. Throat and upper part of the breast yellowish 

 grey. Beneath yellowish white, alternately barred with black and greyish. Quills brown ; 

 their outer webs pale reddish, spotted with brown. Tail bright reddish brown, with nume- 

 rous undulating bars of black and reddish : a subtenninal broad black band, margined with 

 greyish ; tip bluish white, sprinkled with black. The thighs and part of the legs covered 

 with a brownish white hairy down. Female, with the ruff and crest, but less developed than 

 in the male, and the colors are less bright. 



The Pheasant, or Partridge, by which latter name it is generally known in this State, is 

 a constant resident with us. It breeds in every part of the Stale. It makes an exceedingly 

 inartificial nest of dried leaves, usually by the side of a decayed log or the root of a tree, in 



