AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



13 



RUFFED GROUS, OR PHEASANT. 



TETRJiO UMBELLUS. 



[Plate II.] 



Jlrct. Zool. p. 301, No. 179. — Ruffed Heath-cock, or 

 Grous, Edw. 248. — La Gelinote hupie de Pennsyl- 

 vanie, Briss. i. 214. — PI. Enl. 104.— Btjff. ii. 281. — 

 Phil. Trans. 82, 393.— Tttrt. Syst. 454. 



This is the Partridge of the Eastern States, and the 

 Pheasant of Pennsylvania, and the southern districts. It 

 is represented in the plate of about one-third of its size; 

 and was faithfully copied from a perfect and very beautiful 

 specimen in the collection of S. P. GrifEtts, prepared by 

 T. R. Peak. 



This elegant species is well known in almost every 

 quarter of the United States, and appears to inhabit a very 

 extensive range of country. It is common at Moose fort, 

 on Hudson's bay, in lat. 51°; is frequent in the upper parts 

 of Georgia: very abundant in the States of Kentucky and 

 Indiana; and was found by captains Lewis and Clarke in 

 crossing the great range of mountains that divide the 

 waters of the Columbia and Missouri, more than three 

 thousand miles, by their measurement, from the mouth of 

 the latter. Its favourite places of resort are high moun- 

 tains, covered with the balsam pine, hemlock, laurel, and 

 such like evergreens. Unlike the Pinnated Grous, it always 

 prefers the woods; is seldom or never found in open plains; 

 but loves the pine-sheltered declivities of mountains, near 

 streams of water. This great difference of disposition in 

 two species, whose food seems to be nearly the same, is 

 very extraordinary. In those open plains called the barrens 

 of Kentucky, the Pinnated Grous was seen in great num- 

 bers, but none of the Rulfed; while in the high groves with 

 which that singular tract of country is interspersed, the 

 latter, or Pheasant, was frequently met with; but not a 

 single individual of the former. 



The native haunts of the Pheasant being a cold, high, 

 mountainous, and woody country, it is natural to expect 

 that as we descend thence to the sea shores, and to the low, 

 flat, and warm climate of the Southern States, these birds 

 should become more rare, and such indeed is the case. In 

 the lower parts of Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, they are 

 very seldom observed; but as we advance inland to the 

 mountains, they again make their appearance. In the lower 

 parts of New Jersey we indeed occasionally meet with 

 them; but this is owing to the more northerly situation of 

 the country ; for even here they are far less numerous than 

 among the mountains. 



Dr. Turton, and several other English writers, have 

 spoken of a Long-tailed Grous, said to inhabit the back 

 D 



parts of Virginia, which can be no other than the present 

 species, there being, as far as I am acquainted, only these 

 two,* the Ruffed and Pinnated Grous, found native within 

 the United States. 



The manners of the Pheasant are solitary; they are sel- 

 dom found in coveys of more than four or five together, 

 and more usually in pairs or singly. They leave their 

 sequestered haunts in the woods early in the morning, and 

 seek the path or road to pick up gravel, and glean among 

 the droppings of the horses. In travelling among the 

 mountains that bound the Susquehanna, I was always able 

 to furnish myself with an abundant supply of these birds, 

 every morning, without leaving the path. If the weather 

 be foggy, or lowering, they are sure to be seen in such 

 situations. They generally move along with great stateli- 

 ness, spreading their long tails in a fan-like manner. The 

 drumming, as it is usually called, of the Pheasant, is 

 another singularity of this species. This is performed by 

 the male alone. In walking through solitary woods fre- 

 quented by these birds, a stranger is surprised by suddenly 

 hearing a kind of thumping, very similar to that produced 

 by striking two full-blown ox-bladders together, but much 

 louder; the strokes, at first, are slow and distinct; but gra- 

 duUy increase in rapidity until they run into each other, 

 resembling the rumbling sound of very distant thunder, 

 dying away gradually on the ear. After a few minutes 

 pause, this is again repeated; and in a calm day may be 

 heard nearly half a mile off. This drumming is most com- 

 mon in spring, and is the call of the cock to his favourite 

 female. In the early part of the season, it frequently hap- 

 pens that this drumming attracts the attention of some 

 rival cock, which is led to the spot from whence it pro- 

 ceeds, when a most furious battle takes place between them 

 as competitors for the hen, and owing to the gameness of 

 these birds, it lasts for a considerable time; victory, how- 

 ever, is generally on the side of the injured party, owing 

 probably to the greater degree of fierceness with which he 

 combats, in protection of his favourite, than that exhibited 

 by his antagonist. They fight keenly, and strike exceeding 

 hard with their wings, alternately seizing each other with 

 their bills. This drumming is produced in the following 

 manner, — ( Vide Plate II. ) The bird, standing on the 

 old prostrate log, generally in a retired and sheltered 

 situation, lowers his wings, erects his expanded tail, con- 

 tracts his throat, elevates the two tufts of feathers on the 

 neck, and inflates his whole body, something in the man- 

 ner of the turkey cock, strutting and wheeling about with 



* Since Wilson's researches, four other species have been discovered, viz: 

 Dusky Grous, Tetrao Obscunts. Spotted Grous, T. Canadensis. Long-tailed 

 Grous, T. Phasianellus, and Cock of the Plains, T. UrophasianeUus. — Syn. 

 Birds U. S. by C. L. Buonaparte. 



