24(» 



VERTEBRATA. 



ous as to l.o .1 pest to the fanners; the markets of the cities arc well supplied with them in the 

 winter season. Their flesh is excellent, and they can be tamed with facility. 



Otiier American species of gronse are the Spotted, Spruce, or Canada Grouse, T. Canaden- 

 sis^ fifteen inches lonrr ; found from the State of New York to Labrador : the Dusky Grouse, T. 

 uhlcunis, twenty-two'inches lout;; the male with neek-sacks like those of the pinnated grouse; 

 found in'the Kooky Mountains and oil the Columbia River: the Pheasant-tailed Grouse, or 

 Cock of the Tla'ins, T. urophasianus — Ccntrocercus urophasianus of Bonaparte — thirty inches 

 lonff* found in tlie same localities as the preceding: the Sharp-tailed Grouse, T. phasianellus 



Pedioecetcs phasianellus of Bonaparte — seventeen and a half inches long; found in the Fur 



Countries. 



UED GKOUSE. 



Gemis LAGOPUS : Lagopus. — To this belongs the Red Grouse, L. Scoticvs, sixteen inches long; 

 general color rufous-brown. This species, as well as the ptarmigan, differs from the preceding in 

 pairing every spring, and in being feathered down to the toes. It lives chiefly on the moors, and 

 hence is often called Moor-Fowl. It is confined to the British Islands and the Orkneys, and is a very 

 prolific species, affording abundant occupation to the sportsman in the game season ; forty brace 

 arc sometimes bagged by one man in a day. The supplies in the London market are constant 

 from August to March. Most of these birds arc sliot, but many arc taken by horse-hair snares. 

 They vary in the different counties of England and Scotland ; in the county of Durham a cream- 

 colored variety is found. This species are often bred in confinement. 



The Ptarmigan or White Grouse, L. vuhjaris, is fifteen inches, general color gray in summer; 

 white in winter ; feeds on Alpino seeds and berries, and the tender slioots of plants ; pairs in early 

 spring; lays eight to ten yellowish-white eggs, often among stones on the bare ground. It 



