TION. 



850 WOOD GROUS. Class It 



suspect that the breed is now extinct in every 

 part of Ireland. All the British grous and 

 partridge are found in Italy, except the Red 

 Grous. 

 Descrip- The length of the male is two feet eight 

 inches ; the breadth three feet ten inches : its 

 weight sometimes fourteen pounds. The female 

 is much less, the length being only twenty-six 

 inches ; the breadth forty. The sexes differ 

 also greatly in colour. The bill of the male is 

 of a pale yellow ; the nostrils are covered with 

 dusky feathers; the head, neck and back, are 

 elegantly marked, with slender lines of grey 

 and black running transversely; the feathers 

 on the hind part of the head are long, and be- 

 neath the throat is a large tuft of long feathers. 

 The upper part of the breast is of a rich glossy 

 green; the rest of the breast and the belly 

 black, mixed with some white feathers ; the 

 sides are marked like the neck ; the coverts of 

 the wings crossed with undulated lines of black 

 and reddish brown ; the exterior webs of the 

 greater quil feathers are black; at the setting 

 on of the wings in both sexes is a white spot ; 

 the inner coverts are of the same color. The 

 tail consists of eighteen feathers, the middle of 

 which is the longest ; these are black, marked 

 on each side with a few white spots ; the vent 



