666 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



probably as the neighbouring province of California. The 

 polygamous male, in the early part of the breeding sea- 

 son, is very pugnacious ; and the whole with their young 

 are at length seen in flocks foraging for their subsistence 

 in the usual way. Its favorite food, according to its dis- 

 coverers, is what they term the pulpy-leafed thorn ; and 

 as their mode of living is stated to be similar to that of 

 the Grous, there can be little doubt that they subsist 

 also equally on buds and berries. When roused, it is 

 heard to utter a cackling note, something similar to the 

 cry of the common fowl. Its flesh is dark and less pala- 

 table than that of other species. 



The female ? or young male of this species is 28 to 30 inches in lengthy 

 Above blackish, minutely and closely dotted and mottled with brown- 

 ish white, and here and there slightly tinged with pale yellowish 

 rufous. Throat paler, a pure white space along the lower side of the 

 neck, approaching the breast. Primaries plain dusky, except the 

 outer web of the exterior feather, which is somewhat mottled ; sec- 

 ondaries tipped with white ; under wing-coverts and long axillary 

 feathers silvery white. Wings 12 inches long. Breast greyish, mot- 

 tled with black, and on each side below is a pure white space ; a 

 broad oblong patch of brownish-black occupies a space between the 

 lower part of the breast and belly. The vent appears pale brownish- 

 white, transversely mottled with dusky ; the sides beneath the wings 

 the same, but darker. Tail 10 inches, dusky, mottled with brownish- 

 white ; lateral feathers nearly spotless on their inner vanes, termina- 

 ted with pale tips ; 2 central feathers longest, the whole graduated 

 into a general oval, the tail when open being rounded. 



DUSKY GROUS. 



{Tctrao obscurus, Say, Bonap. Am. Orn. iii. pi. 18. [female.] Phil. 



Museum. ) 



Sp. Charact. — Tail somewhat rounded, of 20 broad blackish feath- 

 ers, with a wide terminal greyish mottled band ; anterior primaries 

 spotless. — Male black. — Female and young dusky, somewhat 

 mottled. 



