Oafs If. G R O U S. 205 



color. The red naked part that lies above the eyes is 

 lefs prominent than in the males and the ed^es nut lb 

 deeply fringed. 



We believe this fpecies to be peculiar to the Britijh 

 illands •, not having met with any account of it, ex- 

 cept in the writings of our countrymen Mr. Ray and 

 Willoughly^ and in M. Brijfon under the name oi Bonafa 

 Scoiica; the fame writer defcribes it again by the title 

 oi Attagen^ but his references are either to authors 

 who have copied our naturalifhs, ortofuch who mean 

 quite another kind. Mr. Ray feems to think his 

 bird, the other Lagopus of Pliny *, or the Francolino 

 of the modern Italians : but the account left us by 

 Pliny feems too brief and uncertain to determine 

 at this time what fpecies he intended ; and that the 

 Francolino is not the fame with our grous, is evident 

 from the figure of it exhibited by our accurate friend 

 Mr. Edwards -f. 



Thefe birds pair in the fpring, and lay from ^ix to 

 ten eggs : the young brood or packs follow the hen 

 the whole fummer; in the winter they join in flocks 

 of forty or fifty, and become remarkably fhy and 

 wild : they always keep on the tops of the hills, arc 

 fcarce ever found on the fides, and never defcend into 

 the vallies j their food is the mountain berries, and 

 the tops of heath. 



* Eft et alia nomine eodem, a coturnicibus magnitudine tan- 

 tum difFerens, croceo tinitu cibis gratiffima. lib, x. c. 48. 

 t Place 246. 



IV. The 



