42 THE GROUSE, &c. 



contributed to thin the species; and it would, perhaps, have 

 been long since extirpated, had it not derived so great a degree 

 of security from inhabiting only the most extensive plains, where 

 its food is abundant, and where every enemy may be discovered 

 at a distance. 



The bustard appears much larger than a turkey ; but its wings 

 are not adapted to a perfect flight, their expansion not reaching 

 above four feet ; and though it can elevate itself in the air, it 

 flies with some difficulty. Its head and neck are ash-coloured ; 

 the back is transversely barred with black ferruginous stripes ; 

 the belly is white, and the tail marked with broad bars of red 

 and black. The female is not more than half as large as the 

 male. The top of her head is of a deep orange colour, crossed 

 with black lines. 



THE GROUSE 



Comprehends about seventeen species, of all which the char- 

 acteristic mark that distinguishes them from the rest of the 

 poultry kind, is a scarlet skin above the eye. The firry forests 

 and the barren heath are their favourite retreats ; and since cul- 

 tivation is so much improved and extended, they are, in Great 

 Britain, only to be found on the moors of Yorkshire and West- 

 moreland, the highlands of Scotland, and other extensive wastes. 



THE COCK OF THE WOOD 



Is in size and importance the first of this tribe : it is nearly as 

 large as a turkey, and frequently weighs above fourteen pounds ; 

 but the female is much smaller. The head and neck are ash- 

 coloured, and crossed with black lines : the body and wings are 

 of a chesnut colour, and the breast is of a blackish glossy green. 

 The female is different in colour, being red about the throat, 

 with the head, neck, and back, crossed with red and black bars : 

 the belly is striped crosswise with orange and black, and the 

 tips of the feathers are white. The black cock is about the size 

 of a common hen, and when full grown weighs about four 

 pounds. The moor fowl or red game, which is peculiar to the 

 British islands, weighs about nineteen ounces. All birds of the 

 grouse kind, among which the white game, or ptermagan, must 

 be included, delight in the most barren heaths, the highest hills, 

 or the thickest forests. Their food is mountain berries and 

 the tops of the heath plants; and their flesh is exquisitely 

 delicate. 



THE PARTRIDGE 



Is a bird that is every where well known, being common it* 

 every climate and in every country ; in the hyperborean regions, 



