604 



G A L L I N I D JE. 



at peace ; but when the warm season sets in, and they 

 put on the rich glosses of their nuptial plumage, they 

 iight lustily for the females, as is the case with ail 

 polygamous birds. At this period, which is earlier or 

 later in the year, according to the season and the 

 place, but seldom before March or after April, in the 

 British Islands, they are astir by the streak of dawn, 

 crowing, uttering a harsh grating sound, like that of 

 the sharpening of a knife, and otherwise making as 

 much noise in the cold as they can. The eggs are 

 about eight in number, and less than that in the case 

 of a second brood. The nest is rude and on the 

 ground, and the female does not perch until her 

 brood are able to perch along with her. During this 

 time the male remains in the close vicinity of the fe- 

 males, watching them and their broods with great 

 attention ; and, when the broods are matured, he 

 joins the other males for the season of celibacy. If 

 the male is killed early in the season, the females join 

 the neighbouring harems ; but they remain true to 

 the same male for the season if he remains alive. The 

 external distinctions of sex do not appear in the 

 young till the season is far advanced. 



The black cock, or black game, are found in many 

 parts of the British Islands ; but more abundantly in 

 some parts of Scotland than in England. They are 

 also not uncommon on the continent, but there also 

 they prefer the more northerly countries, though not 

 the extreme of the latitude. 



In Sweden and the other cold countries of the 

 north, where the snows fall heavy and lie long, the 

 black cock betake themselves to snow-houses, as is the 

 case with the other ground birds, and with many of 

 the human race, as, for instance, the Esquimaux, in 

 the extreme north of America. They form burrows, 

 with a breathing aperture, or often with two, in order 

 that they may escape from the predatory mammalia. 

 During their retreat in these places, they eat very 

 little, and do not require it, as the temperature is low 

 and uniform, and they have no action that can occa- 

 sion any waste. These birds are highly prized as 

 game, though their flesh has not perhaps so much 

 flavour as that of some of the others. 



The Dusky Grouse (T. obscurus) is the American 

 species, which appears to agree in most particulars 

 with the black cock of the eastern continent. In 

 size and colour it is very nearly the same as the 

 European species ; but the tail of the male bird is 

 very differently formed. It consists of twenty broad 

 feathers, the tips of which individually are rounded, as 

 is also the general outline of the tail. The colours of 

 the female also resemble those of the females in Europe, 

 only there are more white mottlings on the chin. The 

 size of the female also bears nearly the same propor- 

 tion to the male as in the European species. 



The form of the tail in this species indicates a more 

 constant habit of ascending and descending than that 

 of the black-cock, a more woodland bird in short ; 

 and this is confirmed by the locality and the habit in 

 so far as observation has gone. The birds are found 

 in the elevated places of the rocky mountains ; and the 

 iirst known specimen was obtained in 1820, by Major 

 Long, at an elevation of 2000 feet, above the level of 

 the sea, and to the westward of the water-shed between 

 the rivers of that place to the Pacific and the branches 

 of the Mississippi. We are not aware that any spe- 

 cimen has been met with, either in the central valley or 

 in the hills towards the Atlantic. The habits of the 



bird sue altogether unknown, further than can be in- 

 ferred from its being a grouse, and inhabiting mountain 

 thickets. 



The Wood Grouse (T, urogallus) is a species peculiar 

 to the eastern continent, and it is one of the most ce- 

 lebrated both for its size and its beauty. It was once 

 an inhabitant of the forests in the north of Scotland ; 

 but it is extinct there now ; though very common to 

 the north of the Baltic, and also in most of the pine 

 forests immediately to the south. In those places 

 where it is abundant, several species are noticed, dif- 

 fering from each other in size, colour, shape of the 

 head, and some other particulars ; but these are of too 

 trivial a nature to be admitted into a hasty general 

 sketch, in which we must confine ourselves to the 

 average or prevailing character. 



The neck and upper parts of the body are of a 

 dusky colour, waved across with ash-colour ; the 

 under part is also dusky, but rather paler in the tint, 

 and marked with white spots ; and the under part of 

 the union of the wings with the body is also white ; 

 the breast is green with rich bronze reflections ; and 

 the tail is black with two white spots near the tip of 

 each feather. The length is about two feet nine, and 

 the extent of the wings about three feet. The female 

 is about half afoot shorter than the male, and propor- 

 tionally less in all her dimensions. She is mottled all 

 over the upper part with dull red, black and white ; 

 the throat and breast brighter red. The young males 

 resemble the female till the first moult, when they 

 begin to show a little green on the throat. 



This is truly a splendid bird, equal in size to the 

 turkey, at least on the average, as reared in confine- 

 ment. The common weight is about seven or eight 

 pounds, but specimens have been found as heavy as 

 fifteen pounds. 



These birds are chiefly confined to what may be 

 considered as the northern zone of the eastern con- 

 tinent, that is, not to the south of the Altaian moun- 

 tains, on the east of Asia, or of the arid flats north- 

 ward of the Caspian, in the west, while in Europe 

 they are very rare to the south of the Carpathian 

 ridge, and not abundant even on the northern slopes 

 of these mountains. The great pine forests of the 

 north are their favourite haunts ; and they disappear 

 when those forests cease to exist. 



Their principal food appears to consist of the 

 berries of the juniper, the vacciniums, and other 

 small fruit-bearing shrubs of the high latitudes, and 

 also of the buds and young sprouts of pines, the 

 buds and succulent leaves of various plants, and pro- 

 bably also worms and insects. These birds, like do- 

 mestic poultry, swallow small pebbles, and scratch 

 the soil with their feet. They resort to the copses 

 for food in the morning and evening, and during the 

 day they retire into the thickest recesses of the woods. 

 About the beginning of April their breeding season 

 commences, when they perch with little interruption, 

 and when the male may be seen, at sunrise and in 

 the evening, much agitated on one of the largest 

 branches of the pines, with his tail expanded and 

 raised, and his wings drooping, sometimes walking 

 backwards and forwards, with his neck stretched out, 

 his head inflated, and his eyebrows of a deep crim- 

 son. His wooing call commences by a sort of ex- 

 plosion, instantly followed by a sound like the whet- 

 ing of a scythe, which ceases and recommences al- 

 ternately for about an hour, and is then terminated 



