VOL. LXII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 337 



length is 17 inches, its breadth 24, and as Mr. Edwards justly says, it is some- 

 what larger than the common pheasant. The great cock of the wood is as large 

 as a turkey; and its female, which is much less, however far exceeds our bird, 

 it being 26 inches long, and 40 broad. See British Zool, 8vo, p. 200. The 

 figures given of the female of the T. urogallus, or great cock of the wood,, in 

 the Br. 7ax>\. folio, plate m,* and the planche enluminee 75, will serve on com- 

 parison as a convincing proof of the vast difference there is between the Hudson's 

 Bay pheasant grouse and the European cock of the wood. The figure, which 

 Mr. Edwards has given of the former bird, does not exactly correspond with the 

 Society's specimen, as he has represented the marks on the breast half-moon 

 shaped, though they are heart-shaped as those on the belly in the dried bird ; 

 that is, they are white spots, with a pale brownish yellow cordated brirn. Nor 

 can he agree with Mr. Edwards, when he calls this bird the long -tailed grous 

 from Hudson's Bay ; for its tail is really very short, in comparison with that of 

 other grouse, and its smallness and acuteness afford one of the most distinguish- 

 ing characters of the species. 



The native Indians call these pheasant grouses oc-kiss-cow : they are found all 

 the year long, among the small juniper bushes, of which the buds are their prin 

 cipal food, as also the buds of birch in winter, and all sorts of berries in summer. 

 They never vary their colours; nor is there any great difference between the male 

 and female, except in the caruncula or comb over the eye, which in the male is 

 an inch long, and 4 of an inch high. The account from Albany Fort adds, 

 that the colour of the male is somewhat browner, and almost a chocolate on the 

 breast. Their flesh is of a light brown, exceedingly juicy, and they are very 

 plump. They lay from 9 to 1 3 eggs ; their young can run almost as soon as 

 they are hatched: they make a piping noise somewhat like a chicken. The 

 cock has a shrill crowing note, not very loud; but when disturbed, or while 

 flying, he makes a repeated noise of cuck, cock. They are most common in 

 winter at Albany Fort. 



Before leaving the genus of grouses, he observes that their feet have a pecu- 

 liarity, taken notice of by few authors ; the toes, in several species, have on each 

 side a row of short flexible teeth, like those of a comb ; so that the toes appear 

 pectinated. The species, which are known to have such pectinated toes, are, 1 . 

 The great cock of the wood, tetrao urogallus, Linn. 2. The black cock, T. 

 tetrix, Linn. 3. The spotted grous, t. canadensis, and t. canace, Linn. 4. 

 The ruffed grous, t. umbellus, Linn. 5. The shoulder-knot grous, t. togatus, 

 Linn. 6. The pheasant grous, t. phasianellus. 7- The hazel hen, t. bonasia, 

 Linn. 8. The pyrenaean grous, t. alchata, Linn. 



This is a circumstance which ought to be attended to in all other species of 



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