65 



BOMBYX. 



BONASIA. 



to a fine point. The legs are long and very slender. Wings hori- 

 zontal. 



The species of this tribe are all remarkable for their great swiftness 

 of flight ; two species of the genus Sombylius are not uncommon in 

 open parts of woods, frequenting sunny banks, where they may be 

 seen, in the month of April, hovering over flowers, from which they 

 sip the sweets by means of their long proboscis, which enables them 

 to do this without settling on the flowers. 



At one time they will be seen apparently quite motionless in the 

 air for their wings vibrate so rapidly that they cannot be discerned 

 a moment after they will make their 

 appearance at a few yards' distance, 

 having darted from one spot to the other 

 with such rapidity that the eye cannot 

 follow them. In their flight they emit a 

 humming sound. 



The two species here spoken of are B. 

 major and B. medius ; they are about one- 

 third of an inch long and of a brown 

 colour ; the former has the anterior part 

 of its wings clouded with an opaque 

 brown colour, and the posterior part 



Bombylius incditis. 



transparent the latter has the wings adorned with numerous brown 

 spots, and their anterior portion but slightly clouded. 



Mr. Stephens enumerates seven species of this genus as indigenous 

 to this country ; they are sometimes called Humble-Bee Flies. 



BOMBYX. [BOMBTCID.E.] 



BONA'SIA, a genus of Birds belonging to the Tetraonidte (Grouse 

 Family). It is thus characterised by C. L. Bonaparte : 



Lower portion of the tarsus or shank and the toes naked ; tail long 

 and rounded ; the head adorned with a crest, and the sides of the 

 neck with a ruff. The plumage of the female nearly the same as that 

 of the male, and varying but little throughout the year. 



Swainson retains the Linnacan name for the bird, and makes 

 Tetrao the typical group of the subgenera into which he divides the 

 genus, expressing however considerable doubt on the value of the 

 types. 



The Ruffed Grouse (Bonasia Umbelliu of Bonaparte ; Tetrao 

 Umbellu* and Tetrao togatia of Linnaeus ; Tetrao Vmbdha of Linnaeus 

 and Swainson) is the Shoulder-Knot Grouse of Latham ; the Ruffed 

 Heathcock or Grouse of Edwards ; La Gelinote Hupe'e de Pensilvanie 

 of Brisson ; La Grosse Gelinotte de Canada and Le Coq de Bruyere a 

 Fraise of Buffon ; the Pheasant of the Pennsylvanians, and of the 

 inhabitants of the southern States ; the White Flesher and Pheasant 

 of the Anglo-Americans generally. 



Audubon says that to the west of the Alleghanies, and on those 

 mountains, the term Pheasant is generally used to designate the bird, 

 and that the same appellation is employed in the middle States to the 

 cant of the mountains, till the State of Connecticut is entered, where 

 the name of Partridge prevails. Lawson uses the term Pheasant. 

 "The pheasant of Carolina differs some small matter from the 

 English pheasant, being not so big, and having some difference in 

 feather ; yet he is not any wise inferior in delicacy, but is as good 

 meat or rather finer. He haunts the back-woods, and is seldom found 

 near the inhabitants." Wilson calls it throughout Pheasant, except in 

 one place, where he terms it the Pheasant or Partridge of New 

 England. 



According to the author last quoted, this bird is known in almost 

 every quarter of the United States ; is common at Moose Fort, on 

 Hudson's Bay, in lat. 51 ; frequent in the upper part of Georgia, and 

 very^ abundant in Kentucky and Indiana. In the lower parts of 

 Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, according to the same authority, it is 

 very seldom observed, but on advancing inland to the mountains it 

 again makes its appearance ; and though it is occasionally met with in 

 the lower parts of New Jersey, its occurrence there is considered to 

 be owing to the more northerly situation of the country ; for even 

 here they are far less numerous than among the mountains. 



Captains Lewis and Clarke found it in crossing the Rocky Moun- 

 tains which divide the basin of the Columbia from that of the 

 Mississippi, more than 3000 miles by their measurement from the 

 mouth of the latter river. Sir John Richardson says that it exists as 

 far north as the 56th parallel, and that it is very plentiful on the 

 banks of the Saskatchewan ; adding in a note, that Mr. Drummond 

 procured specimens at the sources of the Peace River, in the valleys 

 of the Rocky Mountains, which do not differ from those killed on the 

 Saskatchewan. The limit of its southern range has been stated to be 

 the Gulf of Mexico. Audubon found these birds most numerous in 

 the States of Pennsylvania and new York, and says that they are to 

 be met with as you travel towards the south, through the whole of 

 Tennessee and the Choctaw territory ; but that as you approach the 

 city of Natchez they disappear ; nor had he ever heard of one of these 

 birds having been seen in the State of Louisiana. 



" The manners of the pheasant," says, Wilson, "are solitary ; they 

 are seldom found in coveys of more than four or five together, and 

 more usually in pairs or singly. They leave their sequestered haunts 

 in the woods early in the morning, and seek the path or road to pick 

 up gravel, and glean among the droppings of the horses. In travelling 

 among the mountains that bound Susquehanna, I was always able to 



furnish myself with an abundant supply of these birds every morning 

 without leaving the path. If the weather be foggy or lowering, they 

 are sure to be seen in such situations. They generally move along 

 with great stateliness, with their broad fan-like tail spread out." 



Audubou states that, although they are attached to the craggy sides 

 of mountains and hills, and rocky borders of small streams thickly 

 mantled with evergreen trees and shrubs, they at times remove to the 

 lowlands, and even enter the thickest cane-brakes, where they some- 

 times breed, and where he shot some, and heard them drumming when 

 there were no hills nearer than 15 or 20 miles. The lower parts of 

 the State of Indiana, and also those of Kentucky, were amongst 

 the places where he so discovered them. The following is his 

 account of their autumnal migrations, which he seems to have first 

 observed : 



" The ruffed grouse although a constant resident in the districts 

 which it frequents, performs partial sorties at the approach of autumn. 

 These are not equal in extent to the peregrinations of the wild turkey, 

 our little partridge, or the pinnated grouse, but are sufficiently so 

 to become observable during the seasons when certain portions of the 

 mountainous districts which they inhabit become less abundantly 

 supplied with food than others. These partial movings might not be 

 noticed, were not the birds obliged to fly across rivers of great breadth, 

 as whilst in the mountain lands their groups are as numerous as those 

 which attempt these migrations ; but on the north-west banks of the 

 Ohio and Susquehanna rivers, no one who pays the least attention to 

 the manners and habits of our birds can fail to observe them. The 

 grouse approach the banks of the Ohio in parties of eight or ten, now 

 and then of twelve or fifteen, and on arriving there linger in the woods 

 close by for a week or a fortnight, as if fearful of encountering the 

 danger to be -incurred in crossing the stream. This usually happens 

 in the beginning of October, when these birds are in the very best 

 order for the table, and at this period great numbers of them are 

 killed. If started from the ground, with or without the assistance of 

 a dog, they immediately alight on the nearest trees, and are easily shot. 

 At length however they resolve upon crossing the river ; and this 

 they accomplish with so much ease that I never saw any of them 

 drop into the water. Not more than two or three days elapse after 

 they have reached the opposite shore, when they at once proceed to 

 the interior of the forests in search of places congenial to the general 

 character of their habits. They now resume their ordinary manner 

 of living, which they continue until the approach of spring, when the 

 males, as if leading the way, proceed singly towards the country from 

 which they had retreated. The females follow in small parties of 

 three or four. In the month of October, 1820, I observed a larger 

 number of ruffed grouse migrating thus from the states of Ohio, 

 Illinois, and Indiana into Kentucky, than I had ever before remarked. 

 During the short period of their lingering along the north-west shore 

 of the Ohio that season, a great number of them was killed, and 

 they were sold in the Cincinnati market for so small a sum as 12J 

 cents each." 



Wilson says that the Ruffed Grouse is in the best order for the table 

 in September and October. At this season they feed chiefly on 

 whortleberries, and the little red aromatic Partridge-Berries (Gaul- 

 theria procumbent), the last of which give their flesh a peculiarly 

 delicate flavour. With the former the mountains are literally covered 

 from August to November ; and these constitute at that season the 

 greater part of their food. During the deep snows of winter they 

 have recourse to the buds of alder, and the tender buds of the laurel 

 (Kalmia). He frequently found their crops distended with a large 

 handful of these latter alone ; and adds, that it has been confidently 

 asserted, that after having fed for some time on the laurel-buds, their 

 flesh becomes highly dangerous to eat of, partaking of the poisonous 

 qualities of the plant. The same has been asserted of the flesh of the 

 deer, when in severe weather and deep snows they subsist on the 

 leaves and bark of the laurel. " Though," continues Wilson, " I have 

 myself eat freely of the flesh of the pheasant after emptying it of large 

 quantities of laurel buds, without experiencing any bad consequences, 

 yet from the respectability of those, some of them eminent physicians, 

 who have particularised cases in which it has proved deleterious, and 

 even fatal, I am inclined to believe that in certain cases where this 

 kind of food has been long continued, and the birds allowed to remain 

 undrawn for several days, until the contents of the crop and stomach 

 have had time to diffuse themselves through the flesh, as is too often 

 the case, it may be unwholesome and dangerous. Great numbers of 

 these birds are brought to our markets at all times during fall and 

 winter, some of which are brought from a distance of more than a 

 hundred miles, and have been probably dead a week or two, unpicked 

 and undrawn, before they are purchased for the table. Regulations 

 prohibiting them from being brought to market unless picked and 

 drawn would very probably be a sufficient security from all danger. 

 At these inclement seasons however they are generally lean and dry, 

 and indeed at all times their flesh is far inferior to that of the quail 

 or of the pinnated grouse. They are usually sold in Philadelphia 

 market at from three-quarters of a dollar to a dollar and a quarter a 

 pair, and sometimes higher." 



Audubon observes that they are brought to the market in great 

 numbers during the winter months, and sell at from 75 cents to a 

 dollar a-piece in the eastern cities. At Pittsburg he bought them 



