THE PHEASANT. 135 



NOMENCLATURE. 



The Euffed Grouse derives its name from the peculiar con- 

 struction of the plumage on the neck — "A large space being 

 left destitute of feathers, but covered over by an erectile Eufif of 

 elongated feathers, of which the upper are silky, shining, and 

 curved forward at the end, which is very broad and rounded." 



Like most others of our Game Birds, the Euffed Grouse has 

 several local appellations ; it is called Partridge in the Eastern 

 States, Pheasant in the Middle, and Grouse in the Western. 

 So general is it with us all to call this Bird Pheasant in Penn- 

 sylvania, and by no other name, that it really would appear 

 like a piece of pedantry to give it its proper appellation of 

 Grouse; in fact, most of our Shooters would not recognize the 

 Bird at all by this name. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The Pheasant is eighteen inches long, and twenty-three in 

 extent; bill a horn color; eye reddish-hazel, immediately above 

 Avhich is a small spot of bare skin of a scarlet color; crested 

 head, and neck variegated with black, red, brown, white, and 

 pale-brown; sides of the neck furnished with a tuft of large 

 black feathers, twenty-nine or thirty in number, which it occa- 

 sionally raises ; this tuft covers a large space of the neck desti- 

 tute of feathers ; body above a bright rust color, marked with 

 oval spots of yellowish-white, and sprinkled with white, spotted 

 with olive ; the tail is rounding, extends five inches beyond the 

 tips of the wings, is of a reddish-brown, beautifully marked 

 with numerous waving transverse hairs of black, is also crossed 

 by a broad band of black, within half an inch of the tip, which 

 is bluish-white, thickly sprinkled and specked with black; 

 body below white, marked with large blotches of pale brown; 

 the legs are covered half-way to the feet with hairy down, of a 

 brownish-white color ; legs and feet pale-ash ; toes pectinated 

 along the sides, the two exterior ones joined at the base as far 

 as the first joint by a membrane ; vent yellowish rust color. 

 The plumage of the female is less beautiful, the Eufif smaller 



