BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 169 



There is a regular "walk-around" as ludicrous to the disin- 

 terested observer, as some of the performances on the comic 

 stage. The birds run about in a circle, some to the right, 

 others to the left, crossing each other's path, passing and 

 repassing in stilted attitudes, stopping to bow, and squat, in 

 extravagant postures, and resuming their course, till one 

 would think their heads as well as their hearts were lost. But 

 this is simply their way." This is the inauguration of the 

 season, and very soon the nests are located in places almost, 

 but of course not quite, as various as the domestic hen, for the 

 latter does not always place it on the ground, while the former 

 always does. A moderate hollow is selected or made, and a 

 little grass is arranged in it after which a dozen or more rather 

 slimmer, and longer eggs than those of the Pinnated Grouse 

 but differing very little from them in color, are layed in it. 

 The 3"oung of this species have been seen just out of the nest 

 as early as the 5th of May, and as late as the 20th of June. 



In sections of the northwestern and western portions of the 

 State they are still abundant, but I have neither seen nor 

 heard of any of them for several years in the southwest. Dr. 

 Coues has a lengthy and exceedingly interesting description 

 of this Grouse and its habits in his Birds of the Northwest, 

 pp 407-419, which may be consulted for further information by 

 those interested to learn. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Tail of eighteen feathers; colors white, black and brownish- 

 yellow; above with transverse bars; the wings with round, 

 white spots; beneath, pure white, with V-shaped blotches on 

 the breast and sides. 



Length. 18; wihg, 8.50; tail, 5.25. 



Habitat, more northerly than the last species. 



Family PHASIANID^E. 



MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO L (310.) 



WILD TURKEY. 



Thirty- three years ago the Wild Turkey was not a rare bird 

 in northwestern Iowa and southwestern Minnesota, and it has 

 been seen as late as 1871, in Minnesota, since which I have 

 received no report from it, and I am of the opinion that it has 

 now (1891) totally disappeared from our State. Possibly a 

 straggler may yet be recognized in the southwest extreme of 



