THE COCK OF THE PLAINS. 163 



Mountains, and also on the Columbia River. A 

 figure was first given of it by Bonaparte, from a spe- 

 cimen in the possession of Mr Leadbetter. Both 

 sexes were again figured in Mr Wilson's Illustrations 

 of Zoology, and an excellent representation of the 

 male is given in the Northern Zoology. 



The total length of the male is thirty-one and a 

 half inches, that of the female twenty-two. The 

 colour of the plumage is a beautiful mixture of yel- 

 lowisn-orown, mottled and varied with deeper tints, 

 the under parts nearly white, with longitudinal streaks 

 of brown, and the centre of the belly dotted with 

 large black patches. On each side of the breast are 

 two round naked protuberances, placed farther for- 

 ward than those of T. cupido, or pinnated grouse. 

 Above each there is a tuft of feathers, having their 

 shafts considerably elongated, naked, and tipped with 

 black radii. On the sides of the neck and across the 

 breast, below the protuberances, the feathers are short, 

 rigid, and sharp-pointed, but lie over each other with 

 the same regularity as the scales of a fish. The tail 

 is eleven inches long, each feather lanceolate, and is 

 gradually attenuated to a fine point. The female has 

 the whole of the upper plumage umber- brown and 

 yellowish-white, barred or mottled in equal propor- 

 tions. Under part nearly as in the male, but with- 

 out the projecting stiff feathers. 



The description of the manners of this species by 

 Mr Douglass, is the best account we yet have. 

 " The flight of these birds is slow, unsteady, and af- 

 fords but little amusement to the sportsman. From 



