352 TETRAONID.E. 



tain, tliey began to droop one after another ; and before 

 Christmas all the young birds died. Though I examined 

 tlie stomachs and gizzards of most of them, yet I never could 

 find out the cause of their deaths ; but I have little doubt of 

 its being some deleterious substance picked up in the place 

 where I separated them from the old ones, soon after they 

 became fully fledged, as the old birds escaped this mortality. 



" The other pair never bred ; but it was easily accounted 

 for, as the hen was unwell from the time I turned them 

 down, and she lingered on to October, and then died. 



u Previously to and during the time the hen was sitting, 

 the cock serenaded her with his harsh and singular notes, 

 some of them very similar to the mewing of a cat. He had 

 also a peculiarity of constantly running round in a circle, till 

 the ground whereon he performed his evolutions was worn as 

 bare as a road, and the turf trodden down much in the same 

 way as it is by the RufF in the fens during the season of 

 incubation. 



" Nothing could be more cordial and harmonious than 

 this happy family. When the shades of evening approached, 

 they crowded together in a circle on the ground, and pre- 

 pared for the slumbers of the night by placing their tails all 

 together ; with their pretty mottled chins facing to the front 

 in a watchful round-robin. 



" When food was thrown in for them, which consisted 

 chiefly of spirted barley and wheat, and occasionally bread, 

 the male bird would peck at the grain, but not eat any him- 

 self until he had called his family around him first to partake 

 of the food, which he did with many soft blandishments, and 

 with much strutting and spreading of the wings and tail. 



" I was greatly disappointed at the loss of this interesting 

 family ; and I waited with some impatience for the result of 

 another season. The season at length arrived : they built 

 their nest again as before ; the hen laid about sixteen eggs ; 



