PINNATED GROUS. 29 



swelled. It may be heard on a still morning for three or more 

 miles; some say they have perceived it as far as five or six. 

 This noise is a sort of ventriloquism. It does not strike the ear 

 of a bystander with much force; but impresses him with the 

 idea, though produced within a few rods of him, of a voice a 

 mile or two distant. This note is highly characteristic. Though 

 very peculiar, it is termed tooting, from its resemblance to the 

 blowing of a conch or horn from a remote quarter. The female 

 makes her nest on the ground, in recesses very rarely discov- 

 ered by men. She usually lays from ten to twelve eggs. Their 

 colour is of a brownish, much resembling those of a Guinearhen. 

 When hatched, the brood is protected by her alone. Surround- 

 ed by her young, the mother bird exceedingly resembles a do- 

 mestic hen and chickens. She frequently leads them to feed in 

 the roads crossing the woods, on the remains of maize and oats 

 contained in the dung dropped by the travelling horses. In that 

 employment they are often surprised by the passengers. On 

 such occasions the dam utters a cry of alarm. The little ones 

 immediately scamper to the brush; and while they are skulking 

 into places of safety, their anxious parent beguiles the spectator 

 by drooping and fluttering her wings, limping along the path, 

 rolling over in the dirt, and other pretences of inability to walk 

 or fly. 



"Food. A favourite article of their diet is the heath-hen 

 plum, or partridge-berry before mentioned. They are fond of 

 hurtle-berries, and crane-berries. Worms and insects of several 

 kinds are occasionally found in their crops. But in the winter 

 they subsist chiefly on acorns, and the buds of trees which have 

 shed their leaves. In their stomachs have been sometimes ob- 

 served the leaves of a plant supposed to be a winter green; and 

 it is said, when they are much pinched, they betake themselves 

 to the buds of the pine. In convenient places they have been 

 known to enter cleared fields, and regale themselves on the 

 leaves of clover; and old gunners have reported that they have 

 been known to trespass upon patches of buckwheat, and pick 

 up the grains. 



