122 GUN, ROD, AND SADDLE. 



to show themselves to the greatest advantage before 

 the admiring ladies who assemble around ; for I have 

 never been able to find a maimed hero, and seldom 

 more than a broken feather resulting from the con- 

 test. As the spring advances they restrict their call- 

 ing to evening and morning, and by the time the 

 brood is hatched, cease it altogether. The peculiar- 

 ity of the call of the males of this species is such, 

 that once heard, it is difficult to forget, particularly 

 when softened by distance; it is produceed by for- 

 cing the air out of two orange-colored receptacles 

 placed on either side of the throat, and which, when 

 inflated, are as large in circumference as a man's fin- 

 ger, perfectly free from feathers upon their surface, 

 but hid when in a state of quiescence by fan-shaped 

 bunches of hackles that completely cover them.* 



The pinnated grouse is about the size of our pheas- 

 ant ; however, they differ considerably, those birds 

 that inhabit southern Illinois being at least one-fourth 

 larger than those obtained in Minnesota, Wisconsin, 

 and the northwest prairies. They are of a beautiful 

 mottled brown and fawn color, frequently with white 

 finger-marks on the upper portion of the wings and 



* The most killing hackles for tying trout-flies. 



