438 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



THE PINNATED GROUSE. * 



This American bird is often called the heath-hen. In size, shape, and habits, it 

 strono-ly resembles the red grouse, ali'eady described ; but the phmiage is not at all alike ; 

 for the former is of a peculiar gray, or dark ash-colour, without the dusky red of the 

 latter. The flavour of the flesh much resembles that of the British grouse, but the colour 

 of it is scarcely so dark. 



These birds are found, for the most part, in those wild and elevated situations where, 

 either from the sterility of the soil or the verj- considerable altitude, there are no forest- 

 trees ; the only vegetation being two or three sorts of heath and a little alpine moss. 

 The subsistence of these grouse is, therefore, restricted to the young shoots of alpine 

 plants, or the berries they produce ; for during the rigours of a JS^orth American winter, 

 thev are never known to migrate to milder and more settled regions, or, indeed to any 

 situations which do not yield their favourite food. 



An adult grouse, when fat, weighs about three pounds avoii-dupois. But the eager- 

 ness of the sportsmen is so great, that a large proportion of those they kill are but a few 

 months old, and have not attained their full growth. 



The season for pairing is in March, and the breeding-time is continued through April 



and May. The male grouse utters a peculiar sound, which may be heard on a still 



mornino- for three or more miles, while the parts about the throat are sensibly inflated. 



This sound is called tooting, from its resemblance to the blowing of a conch or horn from 



*a remote quarter. 



The female makes her nest on the ground, in recesses very rarely discoverable b}' man. 

 She usuallv lays from ten to twelve eggs, of a brownish colour, much resembling those 

 of the guinea-hen. When hatched, the brood is protected by her alone ; and, surrounded 

 \>y her 3-oung, she exceedingly resembles the domestic hen with her brood. T\Tien she 

 utters a cry of alarm, -the little ones immediately scamper to the brush, and while they 

 are skulking into places of safety, their anxious parent beguiles the spectator bj' letting 

 fall and fluttering her wings, limping along the path, rolling over in the dirt, and other 

 pretences of inability to fly and even to walk. 



During the period of pairing, and while the females are occupied in incubation, the 

 males are accustomed to assemble, principally by themselves. They repair to some select 

 and central spot, where there is very little underwood. The time of meeting is the 

 break of day, and a's soon as the light appears, sometimes forty or fifty are thus assem- 

 bled from the neighbourhood. When the da^^'n is past, the ceremony begins by a low 

 tooting from one of the cocks. This is answered by another. They then come forth 

 from the bu.shes, one by one, and strut about with all the pride and ostentation they can 

 ])ut forth. Their necks are incurvatcd; the feathers on them rise into a kind of ruff'; 

 the plumes of their tails are expanded like fans ; and their movements emulate, so to 

 speak, the pomp of the turkey-cock. They seem to vie with each other in stateliness ; 

 and as they pass one another, frequently cast looks of insult, and utter notes of defiance. 

 These are the signals for battles, in which they engage with wonderful spiiit and fierce- 

 ness. During these contests, they leap a foot or two from the ground, and utter a 

 discordant, cackling, screaming cjy. 



To the production of this sound Wilson particularly alludes. " What appears to me," 

 he says, "the most remarkable circumstance relative to this bird is, that not one of all 

 those writers who have attempted its history have taken the least notice of those extra- 

 ordinary bags of yellow skin wliich marks the neck of flic male, and which constitute so 

 striking a peculiarity. These appear to be formed by an expansion of the gullet, as well as 



• Tetrao Cupido. 



