GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. I©5 



These birds never have more than one brood durmg the year ; but should the eggs have been 

 destroyed, a second set is laid, generally fewer in number than the first About the ist of August 

 the young are nearly as large as the little American Partridge, and are then fit for the table ; but they 

 do not become strong in the wing till the middle of October. 



The war against these Grouse is carried on in various ways. Some are shot on their breeding- 

 places, others killed with sticks, or caught in nets and snares. " I observed," says Audubon, " that 

 for several nights in succession many of these Grouse slept in a meadow not far distant from my 

 liouse. This piece of ground was thickly covered with tall grass, and one dark night I thought of 

 amusing myself by trying to catch them. I had a large seine, and took with me several negroes 

 supplied with lanterns and long poles, with the latter of which they bore the net completely oft" the 

 ground. We entered the meadow in the early part of the night, although it was so dark that 

 without a light, one could hardly have seen an object a yard distant, and spreading out the leaded 

 end of the net, carried the other end forward by means of the poles, at the height of a few feet. 

 I had marked before dark a place in which a great number of the birds had alighted, and now 

 ordered my men to proceed towards it. As the net passed over the first Grouse in the way, the 

 alarmed bird flew directly towards the confining part of the angle, and almost at the same moment 

 a great number of others arose, and, with much noise, followed the same direction. At a signal, 

 the poles were laid flat on the ground, and we secured the prisoners, bagging some dozen>^. 

 Repeating our experiment three times in succession, we met with equal success ; but now we gave 

 up the sport on account of the loud bursts of laughter from the negroes, who could no longer 

 refrain. Leaving the net on the ground, we returned to the house laden with spoil, although I am 

 confident that several hundreds had escaped." 



" The Pinnated Grouse," as Audubon further relates, " is easily tamed, and easily kept. It 

 also breeds in confinement. I have often been surprised," he continues, " that it has not been fairly 

 domesticated. While at Henderson I purchased sixty alive that were expressly caught for me within 

 twelve miles of that village, and brought in a bag laid across the back of a horse. I cut the tips of 

 their wings, and turned them loose in a garden and orchard about four acres in extent. Within a 

 week they became tame enough to allow me to approach them without their being frightened. I 

 supplied them with abundance of corn, and they fed besides on vegetables of various kinds. This 

 was in the month of September, and almost all of them were young birds. In the course of tiie 

 winter they became so gentle as to feed from the hand of my wife, and walked about the garden 

 like so many tame fowls, mingling occasionally with the domestic poultry. I observed that at night 

 each individual made choice of one of the heaps in which a cabbage had grown, and that they 

 invariably turned their breast to the wind, whatever way it happened to blow. When spring returned 

 they strutted, ' tooted,' and fought, as if in the wilds where they had received their birth. Many 

 laid eggs, and a good number of young ones made their appearance ; but the Grouse at last 

 proved so destructive to the young vegetables — tearing them up by the roots — that I ordered them 

 to be killed. So brave were some of the male birds that they never flinched in the presence of a 

 Turkey Cock ; and now and then would stand against a Dunghill Cock for a pass or two before 

 they would run from him." 



The PTARMIGANS {Lagopus) constitute a group of remarkable birds, characterised by their 

 very compact body, medium-sized wings, in which the third quill is the longest, a short, slightly 

 rounded, or straight tail, composed of eighteen feathers, and a small beak. The comparatively small 

 feet have the tarsi and toes covered with hairy feathers. The rich plumage varies in its hue-^ 

 according to the season of the year ; the sexes are very similar in their coloration, and the young soon 



