392 FAMILY TETKAONID^E THE GROUSE, ETC. 



the ludian Territory aud Texas this bird abounds."* The northern Hue 

 of its distribution nuiy likewise be determined with approximate accu- 

 racy, though it appears to have contracted of late years. It is scarcely 

 now found in any part of Minnesota ; but Dr. Head tells nie that some 

 thirty years ago, at old Fort Atkinson, a few miles west of Prairie du 

 Chien, it was frequently killed, though its present northern limit can- 

 not be far from the southern border of Minnesota. Audubon mentioued 

 its presence in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Vermont; but in these 

 portions of New England, at least, it appears to be nearly or quite 

 extinct, t while I never have heard of it from Maine. According to Mr. 

 W. Eoss King (Sportsman and Naturalist in Canada, p. 135), it was still 

 met with in various localities in Canada, in 1860-67, and about the same 

 time Mr. Mcllwraith states that it was "common along the western 

 frontier" of the same territory. It is not necessary to instance special 

 regions within the boundary above sketched, its dispersion being gen- 

 eral, and only subject to restriction by the nature of localities unsuited 

 to its habits, or where it is exposed to persecution which it cannot with- 

 stand. Constant interference with what would otherwise be its uatural 

 distribution, gradual diminution in its numbers in many places and its 

 final disappearance from others, are iioints, unfortunately, only too well 

 assured. 



Family TETRAONID^ : The Grouse, &c. 



The Missouri region, as defined for the purposes of the present work 

 to include the entire country drained by the great river and its tribu- 

 taries, affords representatives of all. the North American genera of 

 Grouse, and, in fact, furnishes us with every North American species 

 of Grouse, excepting only two kinds of Ptarmigan {Lagopus albus and 

 L. rupestrla). All these are game birds in strictness. Jn the following 

 account, therefore, I am at pains to give the sportsman and general 

 reader a clear and accurate idea of the whole group as represented in 

 North America. The technicalities are, it is believed, sufficiently i)re- 

 cise, without being unnecessarily abstruse, to enable him to determine 

 any Grouse he may procure, and establish in his mind its relationship 

 to its allies ; while I enlarge upon the biographies of the less known 

 species, as far as is at present practicable. 



In striking contrast to the abundance and variety of Grouse in this 

 region, may be instanced the poverty of the same country in Partridges, 

 only one species of which is ascertained, as yet, to inhabit any portiou 



* This author's further observatious on the Turkeys of New Mexico probablj' relate 

 to the var. (juUapavo, as his reuiaiks upon those of the Giki River certainly do. I ascer- 

 tained the common occurrence of this form in the mountainous portions of Arizona. It 

 is readily distinguished from the other by its lighter general colors, aud especially by 

 the pale tips of the rump feathers, as almost invariably seen in the domestic bird. Dr. 

 \V(^todLouse's note on tlie great size of these birds is corroborated by Lieutenant 

 Charles liendire, who mentioned to me a gobbler he killed weighing twenty-eight 

 l)ounds. My correspondent also informed me of an interesting fact — that the males 

 fre(juently lack spurs. (Sec Am. Nat. vii, 1873, '.ViiS.) 



t "As long ago as 18:i*J, Mr. Peabody tells us it had become very rare. At the pres- 

 ent day (1808) it is giveu by some Massachusetts authorities, Jlud not by others. Mr. 

 Allen ' can find no authentic instance of its i-ecent capture in this State, although it 

 has been said to occur wild on Mounts Tom and Holyoke *****.' Mr. Sam- 

 uels omits the species; Mr. Putnam gives it, but entirely on the authority of the older 

 writers. It is contained in none of the Maine lists. Mr. Linsley wrote of it in 1843, 

 'the last Wild Turkey that I have known in Connecticut was taken » * * * about 

 thirtv years since, on Letoket Mountain, in Northford.' " — (CouKS, Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 

 l8Gd,' 288.) 



