PINNATED GROUS. 497 



air with frequent beats, after which it sails with the wings bent down- 

 wards, balancing itself for a hundred yards or more, as if to watch the 

 movements of its pursuer, for at this time they can easily be observed to 

 look behind them as they proceed. They never rise when disturbed with- 

 out uttering four or five distinct clucks, although at other times they fly 

 off in silence. They are easily shot down by a calm sportsman, but are 

 very apt to deceive a young hand. In the western country they rarely 

 stand before the pointer, and I think the setter is a more profitable dog 

 there. In the Eastern States, however, pointers, as I am informed, are 

 principally employed. These birds rarely wait the approach of the sports- 

 man, but often rise when he is at such a distance as to render it necessary 

 for him to be very prompt in firing. Unlike other species, they seldom pass 

 over you, even when you surprise them, and if the country is wooded, 

 they frequently alight on the highest branches of the tallest trees, where 

 they are usually more accessible. If shot almost dead, they fall and turn 

 round on the ground with great violence until life is extinct ; but when 

 less injured, they run with great celerity to some secluded place, where 

 they remain so quiet and silent as to render it difficult to find them with- 

 out a good dog. Their flesh is dark, and resembles that of the Red 

 Grous of Scotland, or the Spotted Grous of North America. 



The curious notes emitted in the love season are peculiar to the male. 

 When the receptacles of air, which in form, colour, and size, resemble a 

 small orange, are perfectly inflated, the bird lowers its head to the ground, 

 opens its bill, and sends forth, as it were, the air contained in these blad- 

 ders in distinctly separated notes, rolling one after another from loud to 

 low, and producing a sound like that of a large muffled drum. This 

 done, the bird immediately erects itself, refils its receptacles by inhala- 

 tion, and again proceeds with its tootings. I frequently observed in those 

 Prairie Hens which I had tamed at Henderson, that after producing the 

 noise, the bags lost their rotundity, and assumed the appearance of a burst 

 bladder, but that in a few seconds they were again inflated. Having 

 caught one of the birds, I passed the point of a pin through each of its 

 air-cells, the consequence of which was, that it was unable to toot any 

 more. With another bird I performed the same operation on one only of 

 the cells, and next morning it tooted with the sound one, although not so 

 loudly as before, but could not inflate the one which had been punctured. 

 The sound, in my opinion, cannot be heard at a much gi'eater distance 

 than a mile. All my endeavours to decoy this species, by imitating its 



VOL. II. 1 i 



