GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, BOB-WHITES, ETC. 



With the Ptarmigan this harmony in color is carried to a remarkable 

 extreme, the birds being white in winter and brown, buff and black in 

 summer; while during the early fall they assume a grayish, neutral 

 tinted plumage to bridge over the period from the end of the nesting 

 season, in July, to the coming of the snow in September. 



The Tetraonidae all nest on the ground, laying usually from ten to 

 twenty eggs. The young, like those of their relative, the domestic 

 fowl, are born covered with downy feathers and can run about shortly 

 after birth. 



The Turkey is the only wild member of the Phasianidse in 

 this county, but the family is well-represented in the domesticated 

 Chickens, Peacocks, and Pheasants, all of which have descended from Old 

 World ancestors. Our domesticated Turkey is derived from the Wild 

 Turkey of Mexico, which was introduced into Europe shortly after the 

 Conquest and was thence brought to eastern Norch America. It differs 

 from the Wild Turkey of the eastern United States chiefly in the color of 

 the tips of the upper tail-coverts. These are whitish in the domesticated 

 Turkey, as they are in the Mexican race from which it has descended, 

 and rusty brown in the Eastern Wild Turkey. 



Besides the five races of Wild Turkey described beyond, another 

 species of Turkey is found in America. This is the Honduras or Yu- 

 catan Turkey, now largely confined to the peninsula of Yucatan. It is 

 not so large as our bird, but is even more beautifully colored, its plum- 

 age being a harmonious combination of blue, gray and copper. 



Ring-necked and 'English' Pheasants have been introduced into 

 various parts of the United States, and in Oregon and Washington and 

 in the east, on various private game preserves, they have become 

 naturalized. The true English Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus] is b^ 

 lieved to have been introduced into England from Asia Minor probably 

 by the Romans. Unlike the Ring-necked Pheasant {Phasianus torquat- 

 us) it has no white collar. The last named species, however, has also 

 been introduced into England where it freely interbreeds with the ear- 

 lier established English Pheasant and individuals without at least a 

 trace of white on the neck are now comparatively rare. 



The Curassows and Guans are tropical American birds, only one 

 species reaching the southern border of the United States. They are 

 arboreal in habit and form an interesting link between the Partridges, 

 etc. and the Pigeons. 



114 



