BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 385 



HEATH HEN {Tympanuchus cupido). 



Length. — About 18 inches; legs feathered to toes. 



Adult Male. — Above light reddish brown, barred with black and buff; 

 under parts rusty white, barred with brown; chin, throat, cheeks and 

 Hne over eye buffy; sides of neck with tufts of less than ten stiff, rather 

 long black feathers, obtusely pointed; tail grayish brown, without 

 bars, except a whitish tip; large orange air sacs on each side of neck 

 and a small orange comb over each eye. 



Adult Female. — Similar, neck tufts shorter; tail barred with buff or light 

 brown. 



Field Marks. — Size of Ruffed Grouse, with shorter tail, and plumage gen- 

 erally barred. 



Notes. — Male, a peculiar toot, repeated, resembling the whistle of a distant 

 tugboat in a fog; a laughing cackle given in the mating season; a peculiar 

 short crow and a startled clucking when alarmed (Field). Female, a 

 hen-like cluck and a low call, resembling that of a hen calling her young. 



Nest. — On groimd. 



Eggs. — Drab, unmarked, about 1.65 by 1.35. 



Season. — Resident the entire year. 



Range. — Island of Martha's Vineyard, Mass.; formerly, suitable portions 

 of southern New England, New York and the middle States. 



History. 

 The eastern Pinnated Grouse or Heath Hen formerly was 

 distributed along the Atlantic seaboard from Cape Ann, Mass., 

 to Vn-ginia, and especially was abundant in suitable regions 

 in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Long Island, New York and 

 New Jersey. Belknap (179^1) said that it was rare in New 

 Hampshire, and Audubon (1835) asserted that it was met with 

 in his day on Mt. Desert Island and near Mar's Hill in Maine, 

 where it was confused with the Willow Grouse. I find no 

 other references to the species northward or eastward of Mas- 

 sachusetts. Many early American writers speak of this bird, 

 and it is designated by some of them as the "grous," "phei- 

 sant," " Heathcocke " or " Heath Hen." Thomas Morton in his 

 New English Canaan (1632) says of the "pheisants" that they 

 are fo med like the Pheasant Hen of England, and that they 

 are delicate meat, "yet we seldome bestowe a shoote at them." 

 Wood in his New Engiands Prospect (16'-29-34) says, "Heath- 

 cockes and Partridges bee common; hee that is a husband. 



