606 



G A L L I N I D M. 



large as those of a hen, and with red spots on both 

 ends. The female sits about three weeks. They 

 eat buds and berries ; their voices are soft and mur- 

 muring ; their flight straight forward, steady, and 

 graceful. They perch in the thick pine trees, and 

 when they are to take wing from a perch, they get 

 an impetus by dropping down, and then dash onwards. 



Sharp-tailed Grouse (T. phasianellus} is remarkable 

 for the narrow and pointed form of the tail. It is 

 rather a northerly species on the American conti- 

 nent, being met with in the wild country to the west- 

 ward of Hudson's Bay, but it also occurs in the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



The male is sixteen inches long and twenty-three 

 in extent of wings. The ground colour is blackish 

 with markings of rust colour and white. The female 

 is rather smaller than the male, and mottled with 

 black and rusty yellow. The nest is rude, and placed 

 in the cover of some bush. The female lays from 

 nine to thirteen eggs, which are white with blackish 

 spots. The young are hatched about the middle of 

 June ; they utter a piping noise resembling that of 

 chickens. From want of suitable food or some other 

 cause, it is found impossible to rear them in a domestic 

 state, however carefully they are attended to. These 

 birds are very plump when in good condition, and 

 weigh upwards of two pounds. 



Franklin's Grouse (T. Franklinu). This is the 

 spotted grouse of the Rocky Mountains, and bears 

 some resemblance to its Canadian congener. Gene- 

 ral plumage, alternate bars of black and greyish 

 brown, very bright and glossy ; head, neck, and 

 breast nearly black, and tail entirely so, but with 

 white spots on the upper and under coverts, and 

 spots of the same colour on the flanks. Nest on the 

 ground in concealment ; eggs five to seven, the size 

 of those of the wood-pigeon, and dull white. The cry 

 harsh, resembling that of the Guinea fowl. Rather a 

 mountaineer, and found in the north and west parts 

 of America. 



Canada spotted Grouse (T. Canadensis) inhabits 

 Canada, the northern parts of the United States, and 

 the north of America generally. It is a woodland 

 species, resembling the wood grouse of Europe in 

 some of its habits. Has a strong flavour of spruce in 

 winter, but is better in the summer months. Nestles 

 on the ground, but perches in trees, and takes to 

 them for safety when alarmed. Length fifteen inches ; 

 general colour of the male black and grey. 



Red Grouse (T. Scolicus). General colour chest- 

 nut brown ; eyebrow notched, very elevated ; carun- 

 cle on the brow crescent-shaped and scarlet. Six- 

 teen feathers in the tail, the external ones black at 

 the bases. Colours of the female less bright, with 

 zig-zag black lines, and little or no red in the eye- 

 brow. Young, bright russet with black stripes and 

 spots. Length of the male sixteen inches ; weight 

 nearly a pound and a quarter. 



Inhabits open heaths and not woods, remaining on 

 the ground, and never perching. It occurs on the 

 mountains of Wales and the north of England, but 

 more plentifully in the highlands of Scotland, and in 

 the waste of North Britain in general. They are 

 likewise met with in the Hebrides, the islands of the 

 Clyde, and in the bogs and mountains of Ireland ; 

 but those noticed by Buffon as natives of France, 

 Italy, Spain, &c., seem either to form distinct species 

 or at least varieties. Linnaeus appears to have been 



unacquainted with them, and Gmelin regarded them as 

 a variety of the ptarmigan. In this country they feed 

 on the mountain and bog berries, and, should there be 

 none of these, on the tops of the heath. The number 

 of eggs which the female lays is from eight to fourteen, 

 and not unlike those of the black grouse, but smaller, 

 in a rude nest on the ground. The young brood 

 continue with the hen till the winter, when they unite 

 in flocks, sometimes to the amount of thirty or fort}', 

 and are then, from their shyness, very difficult to be 

 shot. They sometimes descend, when the winter is 

 very severe, from the hilly tracts, in prodigious num- 

 bers. The shooting of them is a very favourite 

 diversion in autumn by our gentry, on the Scottibh 

 moors, and their flesh is esteemed a dainty, but very 

 soon becomes tainted, especially if the birds are not 

 drawn immediately on being killed. Several instances 

 are recorded of their being reared in a domesticated 

 state. Besides the beauty of this species, the abun- 

 dance of its numbers, the interesting character of the 

 places in which it is found, and the facilities of access 

 to them from all parts of the British islands, it pos- 

 sesses the recommendation of being truly a British 

 species. 



BONASIA. With the upper sides of the toes fea- 

 thered, but not the under. 



Hazel Grouse. Feathers on the head somewhat 

 long ; but the species is much disposed to break into 

 accidental varieties. Upper part brown, with red, 

 black, and white spots. Length about fourteen inches, 

 wings twenty -one in extent. It is a mountain species, 

 and found pretty generally in the elevated woods 

 throughout Europe, from the Carpathian Mountains 

 to the Strait of Gibraltar, but not in the extreme north. 

 It roosts in thick trees ; feeds on heath tops, berries, 

 and buds. The nest is placed on the ground under 

 a tree, or thick tuft of heath. The eggs vary from 

 twelve to eighteen, are rather larger than those of a 

 pigeon, yellowish white with irregular brown spots. 

 The incubation lasts three weeks ; the young run 

 about as soon as they break the shell ; and the mother 

 calls them to her with a cluckiiig sound. The flesh 

 is dark outside, and whitish internally ; it is much 

 prized, and is reported to be the only viand upon 

 which a German prince will consent to feast twice in 

 succession. 



Ruffed Grouse (B. umbellus}. The head furnished 

 with a crest ; the upper part varied with brown, red, 

 and black ; the under rusty white, with brown moon 

 spots on the breast ; feathers on the scapulars enlarged, 

 and deep azure ; tufts on each side of the neck of a 

 bright black, glossed with steel blue, and capable of 

 being much distended. The crest and ruff are barely 

 visible in the female. Very common in the eastern 

 parts of America. The female breeds twice in the 

 year ; the nest among dry leaves under a tree ; eggs 

 from nine to sixteen ; incubation three weeks ; gene- 

 ral food grains and fruits. In the breeding season 

 the male makes a flapping noise with his wings, which 

 has been compared to the beating of the drum, and 

 also to distant thunder ; but it often costs the bird his 

 life, by betraying him to the hunter. 



There are some more species or varieties in this 

 section, but what have been mentioned must suffice 

 as a specimen. 



LAGOPUS. Tarsi and toes completely feathered, 

 so as to fit the bird for enduring the greatest severity 

 of cold in its feet. 



