242 CLASS AVES. 



towards the middle of the bill, and covered with a naked 

 membrane. The orbits and lore are smooth ; the tarsi long ; 

 and the three anterior toes are united at their base by short 

 membranes. The hinder toe is without a claw, and touches 

 the ground only with its extremity. The wings are short and 

 concave ; the first remex is very short, and the fourth and 

 fifth are the longest. The tail is short, and pendant. 



The rouloul is a suspicious bird, never found in the plains, 

 but keeping close in the deep forests of Sumatra. 



Considerable confusion has prevailed respecting the genus 

 of birds called Teteao. Some distinct genera have been 

 erroneously united to it, and many species introduced whose 

 characters and- habits are widely at variance with those of the 

 genuine tetrao. 



Under the name tetrao, M. Temminck includes the grous 

 proper, all the birds resembling the hazel grous of Europe, 

 and the lagopedes. The disposition, mode of life, and 

 principal external characters, are very similar in all the spe- 

 cies. These birds live constantly in great forests, particularly 

 those of mountains. The hazel-grous, indeed, frequent like- 

 wise the wooded plains, while the lagopedes are more espe- 

 cially confined to the frozen regions, or to the most elevated 

 mountains of central Europe, which present a temperature 

 nearly similar to that of the plains within the Arctic circle. 

 They keep continually in the brambles, in the thickets, or in 

 the accumulation of birch and dwarf- willows, which, with the 

 pine, constitute the only trees which grow in those elevated 

 latitudes. Leaves and berries form the principal aliment of 

 these birds ; grains are but an accessory, of which they make 

 little use except in time of great dearth, when every other 

 food is denied them by the rigour of winter, or concealed 

 beneath the deep snow. As soon as the females are fecun- 

 dated, the male removes from them, and continues to live in a 

 state of solitude. The young follow the female, who fre- 

 quently does not quit them until the return of the season of 



