Species II. TETRAO CUPID 0. 



PINNATED GROUSE. 



[Plate XXVII. Pig. 1,] 



Linn. Sysi. i., p. 274, 5. — Lath, ii., p. 740. — Arct. Zool. — La Gelinoie huppie d'Amer- 

 ique, Briss. Orn. i., p. 212, 10. — Urogalus minor, fusms cervice, plumis alas imi- 

 tantibus donata, Catesb. Car. App. pi. 1. — Tetrao lagogus, the Mountain Cock, or 

 Grouse, Baktram, p. 290. — Heath-hen, Prairie-hen, Barren-hen. 



Before I enter on a detail of the observations wtich I have myself 

 personally made on this singular species, I shall lay before the reader a 

 comprehensive and very circumstantial memoir on the subject, communi- 

 cated to me by the writer, Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill of New York, whose 

 exertions, both in his public and private capacity, in behalf of science, 

 and in elucidating the natural history of his country, are well known ; 

 and highly honorable to his distinguished situation and abilities. That 

 peculiar tract generally known by the name of the Brushy Plains of 

 Long Island, having been, for time immemorial, the resort of the bird 

 now before us, some account of this particular range of country seemed 

 necessarily connected with the subject, and has accordingly been oblig- 

 ingly attended to by the learned professor. 



" New York, Sept. 19th, 1810. 

 " Dear Sir, 



" It gives me great pleasure to reply to your letter of the twelfth 

 instant, asking of me information concerning the Grouse of Long 

 Island. 



" The birds which are known there emphatically by the name of 

 Grouse, inhabit chiefly the forest-range. This district of the island 

 may be estimated as being between forty and fifty miles in length, 

 extending from Bethphage in Queens county to the neighborhood of the 

 court-house in Suffolk. Its breadth is not more than six or seven. For 

 although the island is bounded by the Sound separating it from Con- 

 necticut on the north, and by the Atlantic Ocean on the south, there is 

 a margin of several miles on each side in the actual possession of human 

 beings. 



" The region in which these birds reside, lies mostly within the towns 

 of Oysterbay, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown, and Brook Haven ; though 

 it would be incorrect to say, that they were not to be met with some- 



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