'J 



PINNATED GUOUSE.— Ktrtw Cupido. 



The c<jlaur ol' the Piuiiated Grouse is mottled with black, white, and chestnut-browu, 

 the male having two wing-like appendages on the neck, composed of eighteen feathers, 

 five long and black, and thirteen shorter, streaked with black and brown. The male is 

 also known by the slight crest on the head, a semicircular comb of orange-coloured skin 

 over each eye, and the naked appendages to the neck already described. He is also larger 

 than his mate. The under parts are brown mai'ked with white in broken transverse bars, 

 and the throat is wliite with mottlings of reddish brown and black. The length is about 

 nineteen inches. 



The EuFFED Gkouse is spread over the greater portion of the United States, where it 

 is known either as Partridge or Pheasant, according to the locality. 



Its habits arc described at length by Wilson, in his " American Ornitholog}'," to which 

 work the reader is referred for fuller information. His accoiint of the " play " of the male 

 Euffed Grouse must, however, be given in his own words : " In walking through the 

 solitary woods frequented by these birds, a stranger is surprised by suddenly hearing a 

 kind of thumping very sirailar to that produced by striking two full-blown bladders 

 together, but much loiider. The strokes at first are slow and distinct, but gradually 

 increase in rapidity, tUl they run into each other, resembling the rumbling sound of very 

 distant thunder, dying away gradually on the ear. After a few minutes' pause, this is 

 again repeated ; anfl in a calm day may be heard nearly a mile off. This drumming is 

 most common in spring, and is the call of the cock to his favourite female. It is produced 

 in the following manner : — 



The bird, standing on an old prostrate log, generally in a retired and sheltered situation, 

 lowers his wing.s, erects hi.s expanded tail, contracts his throat, elevates the tufts of 

 feathers on the neck, and inflates his whole body, something in the manner of the turkey- 

 cock, strutting and wheeling about with great stateliness. After a few mnnreuvres of 

 this kind, he begins to strike with his stiffened wings in shiui and rajiid quick strokes, 

 which become more and more rapid till they run into each other, as has ali'(>ady been 

 described. This is most common in the morning and evening, though I have heard them 

 drumming at all hours of the day." 



