I?.UFFED GROUS, ^57 



Subgenus. — Bonasia. (Bonap.) 



Lower portion of the tarsus, and toes naked. Tail long and 

 rounded. The head adorned with a crest and ruff. The female 

 nearly similar to the male ; and the plumage almost alike through- 

 out the year. The flesh white. These live chiefly in thick forests 

 and affect the hills and uplands. 



RUFFED GROUS. 



( Tetrao umheUus, L. Wilson, vi. p. 45. pi. 49. [male.]) 



Sp. Charact. — Mottled; tail grey or ferruginous, of 18 feathers, 

 speckled and barred with black, and with a black subterminal 

 band. — Male with a ruff of broad black feathers on the sides of 

 the neck. — In the/emaZethe ruff smaller, dusky -brown. 



This beautiful species of Grous, known by the name 

 of Pheasant in the Middle and Western States, and by 

 that of Partridge in New England, is found to inhabit 

 the continent from Hudson's Bay to Georgia, but are most 

 abundant in the Northern and Middle States, where they 

 often prefer the most elevated and wooded districts ; and 

 at the south they affect the mountainous ranges and 

 valleys which border upon, or lie within, the chains of the 

 Alleghanies. They are also prevalent in the Western 

 States as far as the line of the territory of Mississippi, but 

 appear to be unknown to the west of that great river, 

 where the Pinnated Grous is so abundant. 



Although, properly speaking, sedentary, yet at the ap- 

 proach of autumn, according to Audubon, they make, in 

 common with the following species, partial migrations by 

 single families in quest of a supply of food, and sometimes 

 even cross the Ohio in the course of their peregrinations. 

 In the northern parts of New England they appear also 

 to be partially migratory at the approach of winter, and 

 leave the hills for lower and more sheltered situations. 



