314 COCK OF THE PLAINS. 



having the tails tipped with red ; the red tip being still more conspicuous 

 in the common males, from which in order to comprehend all, our 

 description has been drawn up. 



TETRAO UEOPHASIANUS. 



COCK OF THE PLAINS. 



[Plate XXI. Fig. 2.] 



Tetrao uropkasianus, Nob. in Zool. Journ. Land. Id. App. to Syn. Birds U. S. p. 

 442, in Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York. — The Cock of the Plains, Lewis and 

 Clark, Exp. ii., p. 180, Sp. 2. 



It is with the liveliest satisfaction that we are enabled finally to 

 enrich the North American Fauiia with the name, portrait, and descrip- 

 tion of this noble bird ; which must have formed from the earliest periods 

 a principal ornament of the distant wilds of the west. Hardly inferior 

 to the Turkey in size, beauty, and usefulness, the Cock of the Plains is 

 entitled to the first place in the beautiful series of North American 

 Grouse, in the same rank that the Cock of the Woods so justly claims 

 among those of Europe and Asia. 



This fine bird, like its European analogue, seems to be restricted 

 within certain bounds, and is probably nowhere numerous, owing to its 

 bulk, limited powers of flight, and the eagerness with which it is pursued ; 

 but chiefly to its polygamous habits, which are the cause of desperate 

 combats between the males for the possession of the females. However 

 long the period since it was first heard of in the accounts of hunters 

 and travellers, no more was known than that there existed in the 

 interior of America a very large species of Grouse, called by the hunters 

 of the west the Prairie Turkey. We have little to add, it is true, to 

 what is known of its habits, but we have it in our power to say that we 

 have seen it, we can determine its place in the system, and now give a 

 faithful representation of at least one sex. 



We have again to acknowledge ourselves indebted, no less to the 

 industry and sagacity, than to the liberal views of Mr. Leadbeater, for 

 the present opportunity of representing this bird. His invaluable 

 collection contains the only specimen known to be any where preserved. 



The name of Cock of the Plains was given by Lewis and Clark, and 

 we have retained it, as being not only appropriate, but at the same time 

 analogous to that of the large European species called Cock of the 

 Woods. Similar reasons have influenced us in selecting the scientific 

 name, which though perhaps too long, and ill compounded, has never- 



