GALLINACEOUS BIRDS 43 



turkeys and chickens of the barn-yards. Although 

 the grouse are referred to as hens and chickens 

 (prairie-hen, spruce-hen, wood-heath-hen, sharp-tailed- 

 chicken, sage-hen, etc.), they are not related to the 

 domestic poultry, which is all descended from the 

 pheasants. 



The legs of the turkeys, pheasants, and partridges 

 are naked, but the grouse all have the shank or tarsus 

 covered with feathers ; in some varieties even to the 

 toes, as a protection against the snow. Sports- 

 men will do well to remember this difference, and 

 looking at the feathered legs of the ruffed-grouse they 

 will no longer erroneously call the birds partridges, 

 as many do in New England, or pheasants, as many 

 do in Ohio and throughout the West and South. 

 Such misnomers are bad enough when used by boys 

 beyond the reach of schools. They should never be 

 used by sportsmen. 



Bryant says of the ruffed-grouse : 



" Partridge they call him by our Northern streams 

 and pheasant by the Delaware." 



Forester says he has a very good name of his own — 

 ruffed-grouse. Gallinaceous birds all lie to the dogs, 

 excepting the turkeys, and they do so at times. They 

 arise from the ground with the loud and startling roar 

 of wings so disconcerting to beginners, and fly in 

 straight or curving lines. The smaller birds are 

 more difficult, and on that account better marks than 

 the grouse of the open country. 



All gallinaceous birds are found associated in 

 flocks, termed covies or bevies. Late in the fall the 

 grouse of the open country associate into vast flocks. 



