TETRAONID^ — THE GROUSE. 445 



In severe weather these birds have been known to roost in trees, but they 

 generally prefer to rest on the ground. Advantage is sometimes taken to se- 

 cure them by visiting their resting-places in the night with nets. On the 

 ground they walk somewhat in the manner of the common Hen, but in a 

 more erect attitude. When surprised, they rise with a whirring sound ; but 

 if they perceive the approach of any one at a sufficient distance, they run 

 off with considerable speed, and hide by squatting in the grass or among 

 bushes. They are fond of dusting themselves in ploughed fields or in dusty 

 roads, rearranging their feathers in the manner of the Wild Turkey. 



When the female, with her young brood, is surprised, she instantly 

 ruffles up her feathers, and acts as if she contemplated flying in your face ; 

 this she rarely, if ever, attempts, but resorts to various artifices to decoy the 

 intruder away. 



Their flight is said to be strong, regular, and swift, and may be protracted 

 to the distance of several miles. It is less rapid than that of the umbclhis, 

 and the whirring, as they rise from the ground, less conspicuous. As they 

 rise, they utter four or five very distinct clucks, but at times fly in silence. 



Their flesh is dark, and the flavor is very distinctly gamy, and is generally 

 regarded as excellent. 



In the love-season the males inflate the two remarkable air-bladders, 

 which, in color and shape, resemble small oranges, lower their heads to the 

 ground, open their bills, and give utterance to very singular and distinctly 

 separated notes, by means of the air contained in these receptacles, rolling 

 somewhat in the manner of the beatings of a muffled drum. The air-reser- 

 voirs are alternately filled and emptied as they make these sounds. Their 

 notes may be heard to the distance of nearly a mile. When these skins are 

 punctured, they are no longer resonant. 



The late Mr. David Eckby, of Boston, furnished Mr. Audubon with a full 

 account of their habits, as observed by him in Martha's Vineyard, and also 

 on the island of Nashawena, where they were then kept in a preserve. They 

 were observed never to settle down where the woods were thick or the bushes 

 tangled, but invariably in the open spaces ; and as they never start up from the 

 thick foliage, but always seek to disengage themselves from all embarrassment 

 in their flight by reaching the nearest open space, they offer to the sportsman 

 a very fair mark. The sound they utter in rising, when hard pressed, is said to 

 resemble the syllables coo-coo-coo. They were observed to feed on the berries of 

 the barberry, which abound on those islands, boxberries, cranberries, the buds 

 of roses, pines, and alders, and on the nuts of the post-oaks, and in the sum- 

 mer upon the more esculent berries. At the West they frequently feed on 

 the seeds of the sumach. They are also very destructive to the buds of the 

 apple, and are very fond of the fruit of the fox-grape and the leaves and 

 berries of the mistletoe. During the planting-season their visits to the wdieat 

 and corn fields are often productive of great damage. 



Three eggs in my collection, taken from a nest near Osage Village, in In- 



