ORDER gallin;e. 247 



After the death of the bird, they undergo a contraction, 

 which draws the upper larynx into the bottom of the gullet? 

 and forces the tongue, which is fast by the tail of the hyoid 

 bone to the cartilage which supports the glottis, to follow. 

 On opening the bill of the dead bird, therefore, this part does 

 not appear ; this has given rise to an absurd fable, that tlie 

 wood grous had no tongue. None of these peculiarities are 

 found in the conformation of the trachea in the female. 



The wood-grous is a native of the great forests of Germany. 

 It is very common in Sweden, Norway, and all the north of 

 Russia; from the northern provinces of this vast empire, 

 great abundance of this kind of game is brought, in a frozen 

 state, every winter to the markets of St. Petersburgh. 



In France the species is very rare, being only found on the 

 mountains of Lorraine. It is not found in Switzerland, 

 though some travellers say that it has been found in countries 

 more to the south ; if so, it must have been in winter, and 

 only on the highest mountains, for the wood grous prefers 

 cold countries, which produce in the greatest abundance its 

 habitual aliments. It formerly inhabited Ireland and Scotland; 

 but if not extinct in the former country, it is exceedingly 

 scarce, and it is very seldom met with in the latter : it was, 

 however, once frequent in the Highlands ; but. for many years, 

 any of them that do exist there are confined to the forests 

 north of Lough Ness. It is not known in America, and very 

 probably does not exist there. 



The Black Grous ( Tetrao Tetrix) is considerably smaller 

 than the last. The female is also smaller than the male. In 

 Germany and the north of Europe, these birds pair towards 

 the month of March, and often during the entire of the month 

 of April ; when the females are fecundated, they quit the 

 males, seek some retired place in the woods, and make their 

 nest on some eminence, concealed by grass or bushes. The 

 eggs are twelve, and sometimes sixteen, in number, of a yel- 



