44 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



so closely that, when pheasants and " fowls " are kept 

 together in confinement they will sometimes interbreed 

 and produce vigorous hybrids. The peacocks are Indian, 

 and with them is associated the Malay Argus-pheasant. 

 They share with the turkeys, which are North American 

 in origin, the habit of " display " by the male birds when 

 " courting " — a habit which we see in a less marked 

 form in the strutting, wing-scraping, and cries of the 

 pheasants, chanticleers, and grouse-birds. The various 

 species of partridges are confined to the temperate regions 

 of the Old World, but the word is wrongly applied in 

 America and Australia to other kinds of birds. The 

 guinea-fowls are African, and so are the francolins and 

 quails, the latter migrating to the South of Europe. It 

 is an interesting fact that, when the turkey was first 

 brought from America, about 1550, a confusion grew up 

 in Europe between it and the guinea-fowl. The turkey 

 was given a genus (Meleagris) to itself by Linnsus, 

 who called it " M. gallopavo," whilst the guinea-fowl was 

 called " Numida meleagris." We know, at present, other 

 " species " of Meleagris besides M. gallopavo, and other 

 species of Numida. 



Now we revert to the grouse-birds, a family for 

 which the zoologist's name is Tetraonidas. They all 

 have the beautiful crimson arch of bare knobby skin 

 above each eye which gives its chief beauty to our 

 grouse. The family contains several genera and in- 

 cluded species. The largest species is the capercailzie 

 (a Gaelic word), or cock of the wood, called by the 

 French " coque du bois," by the Germans " auerhahn " 

 (auerhuhn for the hen bird), and by the Norwegians 

 " tiur." It is placed in the genus Tetrao (which gives 

 its name to the " family "), and receives the specific 

 name " urogallus." This fine bird was formerly native 



