TETRAONID^E. 145 



were sailing about in great numbers, devouring the young 

 ones as they chose ; while from twenty feet upwards to the 

 tops of the trees, the view through the woods presented a 

 perpetual tumult of crowding and fluttering multitudes of 

 Pigeons, their wings roaring like thunder, mingled with the 

 frequent crash of falling timber; for the axemen were at 

 work, cutting down those trees which seemed to be most 

 crowded with nests ; they continued to fell them in such a 

 manner that they might bring down several others, by which 

 means the falling of one large tree sometimes produced two 

 hundred young ones of a good size. On some single trees 

 there were upwards of a hundred nests. 



In this country the Passenger Pigeons have been intro- 

 duced into aviaries, or kept in confinement, and have seemed 

 to thrive well, and in some instances have incubated and 

 hatched their young. Their nests are composed of a few 

 dry twigs supported on the forks of the branches. Each 

 nest is said to contain but one egg, which is white. 



TETBAONIDJE. GEOUSE. 



In this family are included the Grouse, Ptarmigans, Par- 

 tridges, Quails, etc. 



