Class II. B L A C K C O C K. 267 



hearing refort to him : the hen lays leldom more 

 than fix or feven eggs. The young males quit their 

 mother in the beginning of winter-, and keep in 

 flocks of feven or eight till fpring ; during that 

 time they inhabit the woods : they are very quar- 

 relfome, and will fight together like game cocks ; 

 and at that time are fo inattentive to their own 

 fafety, that it has often happened that two or three 

 have been killed at one fhot. 



An old black cock weighs near four pounds: Descrip. 

 its length is one foot ten inches j its breadth two 

 feet nine : the bill dufky ; the plumage of the 

 whole body black, glofled over the neck and rump 

 with a fhining blue. The coverts of the wings 

 are of a dufky brown : the four firft quil feathers 

 are black, the next white at the bottom ; the lower 

 half of the fecondary feathers white, and the tips 

 are of the fame color: the inner coverts of the wings 

 white : the thighs and legs are covered with dark 

 brown feathers; on the former are fome white fpots: 

 the toes refemble thofe of the former fpecies. The 

 tail confifts of fixteen black feathers, and is much 

 forked; the exterior feathers bend greatly outwards, 

 and their ends feem as if cut off. The feathers un- 

 der the tail and inner coverts of the wings are of a 

 pure white. 



The female weighs only two pounds : its length Female. 

 is one foot fix inches*, its breadth two feet (ix. The 

 head and neck are marked with alternate bars of 

 dull red and black : the bread with dulky, black 



T 2 and 



