GROUND PIGEON 



4:53 



Ground-nut (Arachis hypogtea). 



motion of their stalks, aiul tlicre coino to maturity 

 :: or 4 inches under the win face, hence tlie popular 

 name <i round- or Earth-uut. In the southern 



states of North 

 America the 

 seeds, or nuts, 

 as they are 

 called, are 

 roan ted and 

 used as clnx-o 

 late. ' When 

 freh they have 

 a sweet taste 

 resembling 

 almonda. They 

 are a favourite 

 article of food 

 w i t h the 

 negroes. A 

 fixed very 

 sweet oil is 

 extracted from 

 the seeds, 

 which is con- 

 sidered by some 

 equal to olive- 

 oil, and it does 

 not become 

 rancid, rather 

 improving with age. Ground-nuts are to be met 

 with occasionally in fruiterers' shops in Britain, 

 and some attempt has been made to cultivate the 

 plant around Paris ; but requiring as it does to be 

 reared in hot-beds, expense and trouble have circum- 

 scribed its adoption as a commercial production 

 there. It is, however, cultivated in some of the 

 warmer countries of the south of Europe. The 

 roots of Bun him bulbocastanum and B.Aexuosum 

 Are also known as ground-nuts or Earth-nuts 

 (q.v.). 



(round Pigeon, a name widely applied to 

 those numerous pigeons (Columbidae) which are 

 terrestrial rather than arboreal. The more 

 thoroughly ground-loving forms have short and 

 rounded wings, and lessened power of prolonged 

 flight, but possess long legs ana a rapid pace. See 

 Elliot, Standard Natural Hi story, vol. iv. (Boston, 

 188o), for an admirable account. 



Ground-rent, in the law of England, is the 

 rent which a person, who intends to build upon a 

 piece of ground, pays to the landlord for the use 

 of the ground for a certain specified term, usually 

 ninety-nine years. The builder usually pays a 

 certain annual sum by way of rent to the owner, 

 who is thereafter called the ground-landlord, and 

 then commences to build upon the land. The 

 builder then lets the houses, and in doing so he 

 of course includes in the rent which he puts upon 

 each house a proportionate part of this ground- 

 rent, which he himself is bound to pay to the 

 ground landlord, so that practically the tenant 

 iiays both the rent and the ground-rent, the latter 

 being so called because it issues out of the ground, 

 independently of what is built upon it. Ground- 

 rents often form a safe investment for capital, 

 because the security is good. This security con- 

 sists in the ground-landlord being able, whenever 

 his ground rent is in arrear, to distrain all the 

 goods and chattels he finds on the premises, to 

 whomsoever they may belong; and as the ground- 

 rent is generally a small sum, compared with the 

 furniture of the tenant, he is always sure to recover 

 its full amount. This power of distress exists 

 ( except in the case of lodgers ) whether the tenant 

 has paid his rent to his own landlord or not ; but 

 if at any time the tenant has been obliged to pay 

 the ground-rent which his landlord ought to pav, 

 236 



he may deduct such sum from the next rent he 

 pays, and net oil' the one against the other HO far 

 as "it will go. At the end of the ninety-nine yearn, 

 or whatever other term is fixed UJMIII, the building 

 IMM-OIMCK the properly of the ground-landlord, fi i 

 the interest of the builder (or mesne landlord aft 

 he is called) then expires by the eftluxion of time. 

 The value of the property thus reverting to the 

 ground -landlord is often greatly increased by 

 municipal improvements effected at the ex]- 

 of the rates i.e. at the excuse of the occupier 

 who pays the rates. The justice of this arrange- 

 ment is open to question, and the case for a 

 readjustment of rates is generally admitted to be 

 a strong one. There are some politicians who 

 announce that they will accept this reform as a 

 mere instalment ; their ultimate aim is to ' nation- 

 alise ' the land by taxing ground-rents at the rate 

 of twenty shillings in the pound. 



Ground-rent corresponds to yew in Scotland, with 

 this difference, that the feu-rent in the latter case 

 lasts for ever, there being no definite term fixed for 

 its ceasing. 



Groundsel, the common name of those species 

 of Senecio (q.v.) which have small heads of flowers 

 either destitute of ray or with the ray rolled back. 

 The Common Groundsel (S. vit/ffttri.s), which is 

 usually destitute of ray, is one of the most plenti- 

 ful of weeds in waste and cultivated grounds in 

 Britain and most parts of Europe, and now also 

 diffused, through European commerce and colonisa- 

 tion, throughout the world. It is a coarse-look- 

 ing annual, of rapid growth, about a foot high, 

 branched, with pinnatitid leaves, and small yellow 

 heads of flowers ; flowering at all seasons, even in 

 winter, when the weather is mild ; its seeds being 

 also widely diffused by means of their hairy pappus. 

 It has a father disagreeable smell ; but birds are 

 very fond of the young buds and leaves, and cage- 

 birds are fed with them. It is also eaten by cattle 

 if better fodder be scarce. It has a saltish taste, 

 whence its name ; and is of old repute in domestic 

 medicine for poulticing. The other British species 

 are weeds of very similar appearance, but are 

 stronger, having a more disagreeable odour, and 

 are viscid to the touch. Groundsel has been intro- 

 duced into the United States, and is now found as 

 a weed in gardens and waste places from New 

 England to Pennsylvania. Like other annual 

 weeds, the groundsels ought to be hoed down or 

 pulled as they appear, when the ground is in crop. 



Ground Squirrel. See CHIPMUNK. 



Grouse, a name applied to many game-birds 

 in the family Tetraomdtv, which also includes 

 quails and partridges. From these the grouse 

 (forming a sub-family Tetraoniiue) may be dis- 

 tinguished by the more or less complete feathering 

 of nostrils, legs, and feet, by a bare patch of skin 

 over the eye, by a comb-like fringe on the sides of 

 the toes, and sometimes by a distensible sac on the 

 side of the neck. They are well known to \te 

 large, plump, somewhat lieavy birds, usually short- 

 tailed, and with leautifully'-variegated plumage, 

 which must often be protective. They are especi- 

 ally abundant in the northern parts of both Old 

 and New World. 



We shall first take a brief review of most of the 

 important forms, some of which receive separate 

 notice. ( 1 ) The genus Tetrao is well represented 

 by the Capercailzie (q.v.; T. nrogal(tts), its 

 Silurian relative T. urogalloides, and the Black- 

 cock (q.v.) or Black Grouse ( T. tetrix), well known 

 in Britain. (2) The Ptarmigans (q.v.) belong to 

 the genus Lagopus, distinguished by their heavily- 

 feathered tue-, and (with the exception of the next 

 species) by the snow-white winter plumage. The 

 ! Grouse (L. scoticits) is indigenous only to 



