538 



SCRATCHING BIRDS — GALLIN.E. 



They do not fly readily, but run ; and if they think they are not seen, squat 

 close to the ground, allowing travellers to pass very near withovit flying, 

 and often without Ijeing detected, although scarcely concealed by vegetation. 

 When they fly it is sometimes with a loud whir, sometimes without much 

 noise, and they generally continue their flight for a long distance before 

 they alight. 



AVhen they fly they make a cackling noise, very much like that of the 

 common fowl, when flushed, but rather hoarser. Their flight is rather slow 

 and laborious, compared to that of other grouse. 



According to Nuttall, they " pair " in March and April, but are also 

 polygamous, like most of the order. At that time they assendjle on emi- 

 nences near the l)anks of streams, the male lowering his wings and strut- 

 ting about with a luunming somid, the wings dragging on the groimd, tail 

 spread out like a fan, and the bare .skin of the breast inflated like an 

 orange, this being the apparatus that produces the hollow' sound, like blow- 

 ing into a hollow cane. The l;>lue grouse has this Ijlowing organ also con- 

 nected with the windpipe. 



The nest is on the ground, made of dry grass and slender twigs, under low 

 bushes or tufts of high grass. The eggs, from thirteen to seventeen, about 

 the size of hens'-eggs, are wood-l^rown, wdth irregidar chocolate l>lotches 

 at the thick end. They are hatched in t^^•enty-one or twenty-two days, and 

 the young at once run about. (Nuttall.) According to Newberry, the male 

 weighs five or si.x pounds ; the female is a third smaller, as usual in some 

 birds of this family. 



