382 



GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



FIG. 199. Young of Jungle-Fowl 



The best known of the grouse in the eastern United States 

 is the ruffed grouse (Bona'sa umbel' lus), usually, but wrongly, 

 called " partridge " in New England. It is about the size of 



the domestic fowl, and has pro- 

 nounced black ruffs on the sides 

 of the neck. The male produces 

 a loud drumming sound by beat- 

 ing the air rapidly with the wings. 

 The sound is a call to the female, 

 though it is indulged in occa- 

 sionally at other seasons than in 

 the spring. The quail-like bob- 

 white (Coli'nus Virginia' nus) is 

 also, but erroneously, called "par- 

 tridge " in the southern states. It is a smaller bird than the 

 ruffed grouse, reddish brown in color, and without the ruff 

 about the neck. Neither of these birds should be called 

 "partridge," since that name is already in use for Eurasian 

 species of gallinaceous birds. The same statement is true of 

 the term " quail," which is often applied to our bob- white. 

 The pheasants are magnificently colored birds, native to 

 southeastern Asia and adjacent islands. 



Pigeons and Doves. The Colum'bce (Lat. columba, a dove) 

 are closely related to the gallinaceous birds, but the nostrils 

 open into a fleshy cere. We have in the eastern United 

 States several species of wild doves, and the passenger-pigeon 

 (Ectopis'tes migrato'rius}. The latter were formerly present in 

 immense numbers in the wooded regions of the eastern United 

 States. In the early years of the eighteenth century flocks 

 were seen that stretched far across the sky, and which 

 required hours to pass a given point. Farmers were in some 

 places obliged to watch their fields constantly to prevent the 

 birds from picking up the sowed grain. The birds nested in 

 great colonies of thousands, sometimes as many as forty nests 



