396 TETRAONID^E. 



singular, there were eight cocks and but one hen, all of 

 whom were reared till they moulted, and got their adult 

 plumage ; when, from some cause which I could never as- 

 certain, they began to droop one after another ; and before 

 Christmas all the young birds died. Though I examined 

 the stomachs and gizzards of most of them, yet I never 

 could find out the cause of their deaths ; but I have little 

 doubt of its being some deleterious substance picked up in 

 the place where I separated them from the old ones, soon 

 after they became fully fledged, as the old birds escaped 

 this mortality. 



" The other pair never bred ; but it was easily account- 

 ed for, as the hen was unwell from the time I turned 

 them down, and she lingered on to October, and then 

 died. 



" Previously to and during the time the hen was sitting, 

 the cock serenaded her with his harsh and singular notes, 

 some of them very similar to the mewing of a cat. He 

 had also a peculiarity of constantly running round in a 

 circle, till the ground whereon he performed his evolutions 

 was worn as bare as a road, and the turf trodden down 

 much in the same way as it is by the Ruff in the fens 

 during the season of incubation. 



" Nothing could be more cordial and harmonious than 

 this happy family. When the shades of evening approach- 

 ed, they crowded together in a circle on the ground, and 

 prepared for the slumbers of the night by placing their tails 

 all together ; with their pretty mottled chins facing to the 

 front in a watchful round-robin. 



" When food was thrown in for them, which consisted 

 chiefly of spirted barley and wheat, and occasionally bread, 

 the male bird would peck at the grain, but not eat any 

 himself until he had called his family around him first to 



