194 PINNATED GROUSE (TETRAO CUPIDO). 



will confine myself to the subject that heads this 

 article. 



We, who reside in the large cities of the United 

 Kingdom, know the pinnated grouse by sight, for, 

 during winter, there are few game dealers who do 

 not exhibit it for sale in their windows ; but to those 

 whose lot it is to dwell in the country, let me say 

 that the grey-hen, the female of the black-cock, is so 

 like the Western bird, that few but experienced persons 

 can tell the one from the other. 



But the inquisitive, or those who desire to have 

 more than a superficial knowledge of natural history, 

 can at once distinguish the European from the 

 American bird by passing his closed hand rapidly 

 up the neck of the subject of his doubt, when he will 

 find a number of long, beautiful, dark-edged hackles 

 arise, under which the neck is perfectly bare. 



The reader must remember that I do not say that 

 these .birds in other respects are exactly alike, but 

 that they possess a wonderful resemblance to each 

 other ; and this resemblance is further increased 

 when both are seen upon the wing. 



Some years ago, I introduced the pinnated grouse 

 into England ; the late Mr. Jackson Gillbanks, of 

 Whitefield, Cumberland, and a neighbouring landed 

 proprietor, obtained from me several couples. A few 

 weeks after the captives had obtained their liberty, the 

 former gentleman and myself, accompanied by an old 

 and very staunch setter, sought the liberated strangers. 

 After some delay we found the birds sunning them- 

 selves on the sheltered side of a bank ; they were not 

 wild, so permitted us to get within twenty yards 

 before they flushed. 



Old Squire Gillbanks, who was a most keen and 

 experienced sportsman, with an exclamation more 

 emphatic than polite, insisted that they were black 

 game ; adding that this was the more remarkable, as 

 none of that species had been seen in the locality for 



