100 G. H. Merriam — Birds of Co]inecticut. 



Family, TETRAONID^]. 



173. Bonasa umbellus (Linn6) Stephens. Ruffed Grouse. 



A common resident. Breeds on both East and West Rock, near 

 New HaA^en, as well as throughoiit the State. In May, 18V7, Prof. 

 Verrill found a nest, containing- twelve eggs, within ten feet of a 

 traveled road, near the city. In the vicinity of Eastharapton, Mass., 

 they were particularly abundant, and on one occasion I frightened 

 one off from an apple tree directly behind the "Town Hall." Large 

 numbers of them are caught in snares eveiy fall, and the market is 

 well supplied with native birds. Of it, in 1632, Morton wrote : 

 " Partridges, there are much, like our Partridges of England, they 

 are of the same plumes, but bigger in body. They have not the 

 signe of the horseshoe-shoe on the breast as the Partridges of Eng- 

 land ; nor are they coloured about the heads as those are; they sit on 

 the trees. For I have scene 40. in one tree at a time; yet at night 

 they fall on the ground, and sit until morning so together ; and are 

 dainty flesh."* 



174. Ortyx VirginiantlS (Linne) Bonaparte. Quail; Bob White. 



A common resident, breeding in thick brushwood at South End 

 and many other places near New Haven. 



This species also attracted Morton's attention, for he says: "There 

 are quailes also, but bigger then the quailes in England. They take 

 trees also : for I have numbered 60. Uj)on a tree at a time. The cocks 

 doe call at the time of the yeare, but with a different note from the 

 cock quailes of England."* 



Note. — The Prairie Chicken, or Pinnated Grouse, Cupidonia 

 cupido (Liime) Baird, was formerly a resident of New England, but, 

 like the Wild Turkey, was exterminated many years ago — at least so 

 far as the main land is concerned, foi- it is said tliat a few" still exist 

 on some of the islands south of Cape Cod (Naushon for exani])le, 

 and perhaps Martha's Vineyard). However, it is pretty certain that 

 many years have elapsed since the last "wild chicken" was seen in 

 Connecticut-, for even Linsley, in 1842, gave it as a bird of the past. 

 Nuttall, ten years earlier (in 18;)2), said that they were still met Avith 

 " on tlie brushy plains of J^ong Island, (/>/(/ in similar shruhbi/ Ixtrrens 



* Force's Historical Tracts, vol. ii, Tract 5, p. 48. 



