G A L L I N I D JE. 



inducement of any kind for the people to resort to 

 them, the birds are but very little known, even in 

 their native locality. Their food is, accordingly, but 

 little known ; but it is supposed to consist, in part 

 at least, of small insects, which are among the chief 

 productions of the wilds. Those who have observed 

 them with the greatest care, represent them as walk- 

 ing very slowly, and with apparent difficulty, so that 

 they are obliged now and then to squat down for the 

 purpose of resting themselves. On the wing they 

 arc a good deal more active, Hying rapidly, and at 

 a considerable elevation ; but they do not con- 

 tinue long on the wing at a time. Their habitation 

 is among- the bare and shifting sand of the deserts ; 

 and, in addition to insect food, they scrape the sand 

 for those small seeds which are drifted into it by the 

 winds ; -and which, from the perfectly sterile nature 

 of the soil into which they are brought, would be 

 lost, were it not, for these birds. Delanarie mentions 

 that, in his passage across these wilds, toward the 

 Chinese frontier, he often came upon the females in 

 tnc act of incubation ; and that he found them such 

 close and pertinacious sitters, which would not quit 

 their eggs till the very last extremity. The nest he 

 mentions as very rude, consisting of a small hollow 

 in the sand, lined with a few such withered leaves 

 of hard grass as can be picked up in the places 

 which the birds inhabit. The eggs are represented 

 as being uniformly four in number, which is different 

 from that of any species of gall'midce, which is well 

 made, and forms another reason for doubting whether 

 these birds have been referred to their proper place 

 in the system. 



Such is nearly the sum of all the information that 

 we possess respecting one of the most singular oi 

 birds, both in its structure, and in the regions which 

 it inhabits. How it may summer and winter in 

 those dismal wastes, it is not easy even to con- 

 ; ecture ; but it shows that the sterility of a region 

 must bo extreme indeed if it cannot furnish support 

 10 sonic living inhabitant. This bird appears to be 

 ut home amid bare stones and loose sand, and in such 

 place.-; only ; for, according to the accounts, it never 

 resorts to the more fertile places. Nor is it at al 

 impossible that, even where it inhabits, the end o 

 autumn and the beginning of winter may be the sea- 

 son of plenty, as well us it is in those places where 

 there is a crop and harvest of vegetation upon the 

 and. The seasonal winds sweep over those re- 

 ;is with great violence, as is testified by the storms 

 which rage upon the lake Baikal, where the winds o 

 the desert and of the inland country may be said to 

 meet; and they must, while the heat of the sam 

 continues, bring with them a number of seeds, ant 

 along with these, or rather in them, a number of the 

 gs of those insects, the appearance of which, ii 

 such deserts, could not otherwise be very easily ac 

 counted for. But we must proceed with our notice 

 of the remaining group or family of the Gallinidce. 



GROUSE. Grouse admit of division into two sec- 

 tions ; the grouse properly so called, which are in- 

 habitants of woods, heaths, and other places which 

 are wild, but not destitute of vegetation ; and wild 

 grouse, which, as the name implies, are found chierly 

 in the arid wastes. The former have what may be con- 

 sidered as a polar habitat ; or, in more temperate 

 climates, they are found only in elevated and com- 

 paratively cold places. The latter are found farther 



603 



o the south, as there are no arid or sandy places in 

 countries which have polar latitudes. The reason of 

 his is very evident ; but still it is worth mentioning, 

 as helping to carry us on towards a proper under- 

 standing of the adaptation of animals to their haunts. 

 The grouse, properly so called, notwithstanding 

 .heir differences of appearance, form altogether a 

 very natural and well defined family. They are con- 

 veniently divided into three sub-genera, or sections : 

 Tctrao, in which the toes are bare of feathers; 

 Bonascits, in which the toes and tarsi are feathered 

 on the upper sides ; and Lagopus, in which they are 

 leathered down to, and also under and between, the 

 All of them hare the tarsi feathered, which 

 forms a distinction between grouse and partridges. 

 The first inhabit most southerly and lowest down, 

 bordering on the pastures of the partridges ; the last 

 are the most northerly and the most lofty inhabi- 

 tants ; and the second,' or those with half the tarsi 

 feathered, are intermediate between the other two. 

 They are all birds of the north of the one continent 

 or the other, or they are common to both ; which 

 latter appears to be the case only with the feathery- 

 footed race which inhabit the extreme north. All 

 the grouse are highly interesting birds, as they in- 

 habit the wild places only, and do no harm to man ; 

 and they breed very rapidly, and all furnish choice 

 dishes for the table, but our limits will not admit of 

 more than a few brief notices. In doing this we shall 

 take the bird of the eastern continent, and the one of 

 the western, which appears to agree most nearly with 

 it in immediate succession. 



TETRAO or grouse, with the tarsi bare of feathers. 

 Black cock (T. tctrix.') This species belongs to 

 the eastern continent, where it inhabits the low and 

 sheltered moors, and the borders of streams and 

 marshes. It is a bird of considerable size. The male 

 is about two feet in length, and three feet in the 

 stretch of the wings ; and when in prime condition, 

 which is in the early part of winter, the weight is 

 from three to four pounds. The upper parts of the 

 body are black, glossed with rich reflections of pur- 

 ple, blue, and bronze green. The blue is finest on 

 the neck, and the green on the feathers of the tail, 

 purple being the prevailing lustre on the back. The 

 under part is deep and dead black, with the excep- 

 tion of the under tail-coverts, which are white. A 

 spot on the reverse of the wing, the tip of the bas- 

 tard wing, the bases of the quills, except the first 

 four, and the tips of the secondary quills are also 

 white. The wings are broad ; and the tail consists 

 of sixteen feathers, the external ones a little pro- 

 duced, and curling outwards, so as to form a peculiar 

 fork. The naked space over the eye is of a very 

 bright scarlet colour, and granulated. The female 

 is about one-third less in the lineal dimensions than 

 the male ; the tail is not so much produced, and the 

 forking is barely perceptible. The general colour is 

 brown, deeper on the back than any other part, and 

 mottled all over with black. 



They frequent the sequestered places where there 

 are brushwoods and copses ; and perch during the 

 night, though they feed upon the ground. In autumn 

 they eat wild berries and seeds, in winter the buds 

 of trees, and it is probable that during the time when 

 the buds are over, and the seeds and berries not ripe, 

 they feed, in part at least, upon insects and worms. 

 In autumn and winter the males live in flocks and 



