GROUSE. 405 



a. About eighteen inches long. Above, marked trans- 

 versely with black, white, and brown. Beneath, tawny, whit- 

 ening behind. Throat often unmarked, but breast, etc., 

 barred with white (and brown). Wings and tail, dull brown, 

 generally marked with white. $ , with long feathers on the 

 neck, which, when erected, form two prominent " wings," also 

 with red " eyebrows," and beneath the " wings " a piece of 

 skin, which can be distended so as much to resemble a half 

 orange. 



b. The eggs, which are laid on the ground, are brownish 

 drab or lighter, and average about 1.65 X 1.35 of an inch. 



c. The celebrated " Prairie Hens " are here included 

 among the birds of New England, only on account of their 

 possible presence on a few islands off the southeastern coast. 

 I am informed, however, that they no longer exist on Nau- 

 shon, where they are not known to have ever been indigenous, 

 and that they are probably extinct on Martha's Vineyard. 

 Having never seen these birds alive, I am obliged to draw 

 my account from other authors. The Pinnated Grouse show 

 a marked dislike for water, and choose dry, wooded soils for 

 their haunts, such as are called " barrens." They feed chiefly 

 upon berries, and also acorns. They usually roost upon the 

 ground, but often resort to trees, especially in cold weather, 

 during which they continue to reside in their summer haunts. 

 They fly less rapidly and with less whirr than the Ruffed 

 Grouse, and walk rather less gracefully. At the mating- 

 season, the males become very pompous and pugnacious. 

 They meet in the morning at an early hour, and engage in 

 fierce combat. 



Catesby's plate and description of a In early colonial days T. cupido was 

 specimen said to have been obtained found at various localities on or near 

 in Virginia. The Western birds have the Atlantic coast from eastern Mas- 

 been separated into three forms, viz. : sachusetts (as far north, at least, as 

 Tympanuchus americanus, Tympanuchus Boston) to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 

 americanus attwateri, and Tympanu- and (probably) Virginia, but it now 

 chus pallidicinctus. The first-named of exists only on the Island of Martha's 

 these is the commonest and most Vineyard, where it is universally known 

 widely distributed of the three, and as the " Heath Hen." Although nom- 

 is the bird oftenest exposed for sale in inally protected by law at all seasons, 

 our Eastern markets. it is mercilessly persecuted, and is in 



