grous. 227 



over the eye a red caruncle; head, neck, and upper parts testaceous, 

 transversely fasciated with black ; the bands broader on the back ; 

 between the bill and eye a white spot ; the sides of the neck marked 

 'with roundish white spots; rump hoary; breast and belly whitish, 

 with cordated, testaceous brown spots, deepest on the belly ; on the 

 wing coverts both round white spots and stripes ; the quills black, 

 spotted with white on the outer edge ; secondaries brown, fasciated 

 on the outer edge and tip with white ; the tail short, consisting of 

 eighteen feathers, the colour of the back ; the two middle longest by 

 nearly an inch, and spotted with testaceous; the three outer ones 

 white;* legs covered with soft, and long feathers, extending over the 

 toes, which are pectinated, having a row of short, flexible teeth on 

 each side, like those of a comb. 



The female varies but little ; the breast more inclines to chocolate 

 in the male, and the caruncle over the eye is one inch long, and 

 three-eighths of an inch high, but in the female it is considerably 

 smaller. I have observed, too, in the tails of some males, that the 

 two middle feathers exceed the others by full one inch and a half. 



Inhabits Hudson's Bay, and perhaps sparingly towards Virginia ; 

 it continues at the Bay the whole year, keeping in pairs, or at most 

 in small flocks, in the juniper plains, feeding on the buds and berries 

 alternately, but chiefly on buds in the winter ; are mostly seen on 

 the ground, and about the same haunts, but when roused, fly to the 

 top of a high tree : they make a loose nest of grass, lined with 

 feathers, on the ground, and lay as far as twelve or thirteen white 

 eggs, marked with a few coloured spots ; the young are hatched the 

 middle of June, and run as soon as out of the shell. 



The male has a shrill, crowing note, but not very loud ; said to 

 make a noise with the tail feathers, like the cracking of a fan.* The 

 flesh is esteemed, for though it is by no means white, it is plump, 



* Pale brown, with white ends.— Phil. Trans, lxii. 426. 



f This should not escape our attention ; may it not arise from the same cause, as men- 

 tioned before in respect to the train of the Peacock ? 



G g2 



