BIRDS OF NEW YORK 377 



the scrub oaks and pine barrens of Long Island, but was "very nearly if 

 not entirely extinct," in 1844, according to Giraud. The last specimen 

 recorded from the State was shot at Comae Hills, in 1836 [see Butcher, Auk, 

 10:272]. In early colonial days it evidently was well distributed in south- 

 eastern and eastern New York, for DeVries and Megapolensis speak of it 

 as common at New Amsterdam and Fort Orange (Albany) in 1639 [see N. Y. 

 Hist. Soc. Coll. Ser. 2, 3, 90, 150; also Munsell, Annals of Albany, 9:126]. 

 By intelligent and persistent effort this fine bird cotild be reestablished 

 on the plains of eastern Long Island. 



LyniTus tetrix (Linnaeus) 



Black Grouse 



Description. Male: Black with violet reflections, lower tail coverts, broad band in wing, 

 tips of secondaries and small spot below the eye, white; naked eyebrow vermilion; tail lyre-shaped; 

 feet feathered to the toes. Length 23 inches. Female: Above barred with rusty red and black; 

 below dusky barred with red and whitish; tail emarginate, but not strikingly lyre-shaped. 



The Black grouse, Black cock or Black game has been imported and liberated in the Adiron- 

 dacks, especially on the preserves of Edward H. Litchfield at Tupper lake. There seems no reason 

 why this fine grouse should not thrive in the North Woods, if protected and reinforced occasionally 

 by fresh stock until it is well established. 



Tetrao urogallus Linnaeus 



Capercaillic or Capercailzie 



Description. Male: Head and neck dusky ; wings brown speckled with black ; tail and belly 

 black spotted with white; breast lustrous green; rump and flanks ashy, undulated with black; throat 

 feathers elongated into a black beard; bare eyebrows red. Length 34 inches; weight 8 to 1 1 lbs. 

 Female: One third smaller; barred and spotted with tawny red, black, and white; breast dark red; 

 weight 4 J pounds. 



This magnificent grouse, like the Black cock, inhabits Europe and North and Central Asia, 

 being confined to the pine or evergreen forests of the north or the mountains of the more temperate 

 countries as far south as northern Greece and Spain. Its food consists of tender shoots of the fir, 

 buds of other trees, berries and seeds. It has recently been introduced and is apparently established 

 in the Algonquin Park of Canada, and in 1905 and 1906 was liberated in Mr Litchfield's Adirondack 

 preserve, where it ought to thrive. 



Famfly r»HA.SIA.NIDAB; 



As defined by Ogilvie Grant and as used by Sharpe in his Hand-List of Birds, this family includes 

 the true partridges and quails as well as the pheasants and their immediate allies, not even sub- 

 families Perdicinae and Phasianinae being recognized. The family characters as distinguished from 

 other gallinaceous birds are: tarsi and toes bare, claws well developed for scratching, nasal fossae 

 uncovered, plumage dry and hard. In this family are found many of the best known and most 

 valuable of birds, including the barnyard fowl, which, in its multiplicity of forms, has descended 



