596 



G A L L I N I D JE. 



the hen also lays eggs in the autumn, which are 

 generally used in cookery, as a brood is seldom per- 

 fected from them ; whereas, those deposited in spring 

 not being more numerous than the mother can hatch, 

 are usually allowed to remain under her care. The 

 young require to be watched with attention, as they 

 are liable to perish from hunger or redundant mois- 

 ture. In this island they are bred in great numbers, 

 in Norfolk, and some other counties, whence they are 

 driven to the London markets in flocks of several 

 hundreds, the attendants managing them with great 

 facility by means of a bit of red rag tied to the end 

 of a long stick, which, from the antipathy which they 

 bear to that colour, effectually answers the purpose of 

 a scourge. The quality and size of those reared in 

 Norfolk are reckoned superior to those from any other 

 part of the kingdom. 



It is sometimes said that though the turkeys reared 

 in Scotland are of smaller size than those of England, 

 they are proportionally fuller of flesh, and in better 

 condition. What degree of abstract truth there may 

 be in this we cannot say ; but it agrees with the | 

 analogy of the birds in their native condition in : 

 America ; for those of the southmost and warmest ! 

 part of the range, are less full of flesh and much ! 

 tougher than they are further to the north. A turkey J 

 certainly rates higher in comparison with a goose in 

 Scotland than in the south of England ; but there 

 are two ways in which this may be accounted for 

 the superiority of the turkey or the inferiority of 

 the goose ; and both of these are so equally applica- 

 ble, that it is impossible to decide between them. 



The genera which we have noticed in the geo- 

 graphical section immediately preceding, are wholly 

 American birds, just as those which we noticed in the 

 first geographical section were wholly birds of the 

 eastern continents ; and it is not a little remarkable 

 that the American section of the gallinidse should be 

 chiefly confined to that part of the continent which 

 has the least chance of having had any natural inter- 

 change of productions with any other part of the 

 world, but of which the inhabitants are all tempered 

 to the peculiarities of the country itself. If natural 

 history were to be followed out to its geographical 

 arrangement, America southward would make a very 

 distinct province, and present very peculiar and well 

 defined features ; and, even in the present state of 

 our knowledge, and totally as, till within these few 

 years, the geography of animals has been neglected, 

 the peculiarities of this part of the world force them- 

 selves on the attention of even the least observant. 



We are now to proceed to what may, upon the 

 whole, be considered as the gallinidae of the great 

 northern geographical province of the world ; and as 

 in the high latitudes, the east of Asia, and the west 

 of America, are not farther from each other than 

 Norfolk is from the coast of Holland, we may 

 naturally expect an interchange and consequent 

 similarity in their native animals. There are dif- 

 ferences no doubt, which are sufficiently striking for 

 being specific in most cases, and even generic in 

 many ; but still the whole may be said to belong to 

 the same natural families ; nor are we aware that 

 there is in Polar America any bird, or even any 

 species of mammalia, to which there is not something 

 in the northern parts of the eastern continent so 

 nearly corresponding that they may be considered as 

 the same in all their more prominent and more impor- 

 tant characters, and similar in all their leading habits. 



This is especially the case with that family of the 

 gallinidae which remains to be considered, which 

 Cuvier retains as the Linnaean genus TETBAO 

 (grouse), but which he divides into sections or 

 sub-genera, and others divide into separate genera 

 under distinct names. The best way perhaps, there- 

 fore, in order to make popular description moot the 

 views of both parties, would be to consider these 

 birds as a family, consisting of grouse, properly s;> 

 called, and of birds resembling grouse ; and thus the 

 proper name for the whole would be 



TETRAONID^E. The only general character which 

 Cuvier mentions as applicable to the whole of these 

 birds, is that of having a band of naked skin over the 

 eye, and this band generally of a red colour, the tint 

 being rich in proportion as the birds are in high con- 

 dition. This family, in one or other of the numerous 

 genera and species which compose it, is very generally 

 distributed over the globe ; and with the exception of 

 South America, where their place is occupied by the 

 timanous, already described, they are found in every 

 land of any considerable extent, and some of them 

 in pretty remote islands of the sea. In some instances 

 they are domesticated ; but, generally speaking, they 

 are in a state of free nature. They are very abund- 

 ant and prolific in all places which are adapted for 

 them ; their flesh is both delicate and richly flavoured, 

 and therefore they are highly prized for the table. 

 On this account they are much hunted as game in all 

 parts of the world ; and in the British islands they 

 are the only wild and native birds which are 

 recognised as game. 



They admit of subdivision into three very distinct 

 genera, or perhaps subordinate groups, and some of 

 these groups admit of farther subdivision, before we 

 come to species. These groups arc, Grouse, properly 

 so called, Partridges and Quails. If we take them 

 according to their general distribution in latitude, 

 we may perhaps say that the quails inhabit the most 

 southerly ; the partridges next ; and the grouse, in 

 one or other of their species, the most northerly in- 

 deed, among the most northerly of land birds which 

 remain in the same localities throughout the year. 

 They are, however, often found incorporated together 

 in the same latitude, though not exactly in the same 

 locality. The quails, true to their geographical dis- 

 tribution, inhabit lowest down, where the climate is 

 warmest ; the partridges in the champaign countries, 

 which are a little more elevated, though it is not 

 easy to draw a definite line between them and the 

 quails ; arid the grouse inhabit the greater elevations ; 

 and as they are among the last resident birds near 

 the pole in latitude, they are also in more temperate 

 countries, where they are found in such, the last birds 

 near the sky. We shall not, however, notice them 

 in their usual arrangement, which is usually taken 

 from grouse as the typical genus to the quail ; or in 

 the geographical one from the quail to the grouse, 

 which we have now mentioned ; but shall begin with 

 the partridge, as the best known in common locali- 

 ties, and the one which is most generally distri- 

 buted. 



PARTRIDGES (Perdix). The characters of this ge- 

 nus are, the bill short, stout, compressed, and naked 

 at the base ; the upper mandible arched, convex, and 

 much curved toward the tip ; the nostrils at the base 

 of the bill lateral, and half covered by an arched 

 membrane ; the three front toes united by membranes 

 as far as the first articulation ; the tail, consisting of 



