^70 
WOOD GROUS. 
iiig, extremely active, upon one of the largest 
branches of the pines : with his tail raised and 
expanded like a fan, and the wings drooping, he 
walks backward and forward, his neck stretched 
out, his head swollen, and eyebrows deep crim- 
son, he utters his singular cry ; which commences 
by a kind of explosion, instantly followed by a 
noise resembling the whetting of a scythe, which 
ceases and commences alternately for about an 
hour, and is then terminated by a similar ex- 
plosive noise as at the beginning : during the whole 
of this singular cry he seems entirely deaf, and 
insensible of every danger, from the great con- 
vulsive motion into which his head and eyes are 
thrown : this enables the sportsman to approach 
by degrees to the bird, and take a fatal aim. The 
female seldom lays more than a dozen eggs, which 
are the size of those of a hen, but more obtuse ; 
they are yellowish white, sprinkled with irregular 
yellow spots : they are generally placed in a dry 
situation, in an artless nest upon the ground, com- 
posed of heath tops : the young as soon as hatched 
run with extreme agility after the mother, who 
leads them to procure the pupae of ants and wild 
mountain berries, whicli are their first food ; as 
they grow older they feed upon the tops of the 
heath and the seeds of the fir. The whole brood 
follows the mother for about two months, at which 
time the young males entirely forsake her, and 
keep in great harmony with each other till tiie 
commencement of spring, when they separate and 
live in a solitary state, never approaching each 
other unless for the purpose of fighting, which 
