20 FEATHERED GAME 



met across the forebreast as in the males. It 

 has been stated that the bronze ruff is the dis- 

 tinguishing mark of the hen, but my own obser- 

 vation would indicate that, in general, the red 

 bird often has a bronze ruff, and the black or 

 purplish ruff is found on the gray bird without 

 regard to sex. It may be that the bird of three 

 or four years of age is more likely to sport the 

 dark ruffles, but I am not prepared to state it 

 for a fact. The beautiful fan-like tail is finely 

 barred with black on a gray or red-brown 

 ground, with a broad subterminal band of black, 

 each feather ending with an ashy gray tip. 

 In the female the subterminal bar across the 

 tail feathers is usually broken, or at least much 

 less noticeable on the central pair, and while not 

 an invariable rule, it is, with the interruption 

 of the ruffle feathers across the breast, a pretty 

 safe mark for distinguishing the sexes. How 

 far these distinctions may hold in the typical 

 bird I know not. My experience has been al- 

 most entirely with the northern bird, togata, 

 which is surely not the least worthy member of 

 the family. 



The male bird will average three or four 

 ounces heavier than the female, running from 



