WILLOW GROUS. 531 



we had got on board, the provision basket was called for, and was pro- 

 duced by Master Bill, who, grinning from ear to ear, drew out of it two 

 fine old Grous, and a whole covey of young ones, in all the exultation of 

 one who had outwitted what he called his betters. 



While at the harbour of Bras d'Or, I was told by persons who had 

 resided in the country for many years, that, during the winter, when the 

 snow covers the ground, and the Grous are obliged to scratch through it, 

 in order to get at the mosses and lichens, they are so abundant that a 

 hundred or more can be shot in a day, and congregate in flocks of immense 

 numbers, now and then mixed with the smaller species, called there the 

 Rock Grous, and which is the Tetrao rupestris. Their flesh is then 

 salted for summer use. At that season they are of a pure white, except 

 the tail, which retains its jetty blackness. I was further informed that 

 their flesh is then dry, and not to be compared with what it is in summer, 

 when I found it tender, and having an agreeable aromatic flavour. 



The Willow Grous breeds in Labrador about the beginning of June. 

 The female conceals her nest vmder the creeping branches of the low firs. 

 It consists of bits of dry twigs and mosses drawn into a form. The eggs 

 are from five to fourteen, according to the age of the bird, and are mar- 

 bled with irregular spots of reddish-brown, on a dull fawn-colour or ru- 

 fous ground. They raise only one brood in the season. 



The pair represented in the plate, with their young, were procured 

 by my friend George Shattuck, Esq. of Boston, one of my party, who 

 shot the first pair found by us in Labrador. They were in their full 

 summer plumage. I think these birds, as well as the Canada Grous, have 

 what I call a continued moult, young feathers being found upon them 

 at all seasons. 



Tetrao Saliceti, Temm. Manuel d'Ornith. p. 471- 



Tetrao (lagopus) Saliceti, Swains, and Richards. Fauna Boreali-Americ. part. ii. 



p. 351. 

 Willow Grous or Large Ptarmigan, Nuttall, Manual, part ii. p. 674. 



Adult Male, in summer. Plate CXCI. Fig. 1. 



Bill short, robust ; upper mandible with the dorsal outline curved, 

 the edges overlapping, the tip declinate and rounded, the basal part with 

 a deep sinus on each side, lower mandible convex, broad, witli the tip 

 rounded. Nostrils basal, roundish, concealed by the feathers. Head 



Lis" 



