392 PINNATED GROUSE. 



PINNATED GKOTJSE. (Tetrao cupido.) 



PLATE XXVII. —Fig. 1. 



Linn. Syst. i. p. 274-5.— Lath. ii. p. 740. — Arct. Zool. — La Gelinote huppee 

 d'Amerique, Briss. Orn. i. p. 212, 10. — Urogalus minor, fuscus cervice, 

 plumis alas imitantibus donata, Catesb. Car. App. pi. 1. — Tetrao lagogus> 

 the Mountain Cock, or Grouse, Bartram, p. 290. — Heath Hen, Prairie Hen, 

 Barren Hen. — Peale's Museum, No. 4700, male ; 4701, female. 



TETRAO CUPIDO.— LlNNiEUS. 



Attagan Americana, Brisson, i. p. 59. — Pinnated Heathcock, Bonasa cupido, Steph. 

 Sh. Cont. xi. p. 299. — Tetrao cupido, Bonap. Synop. p. 126. 



Before I enter on a detail of the observations which I have 

 myself personally made on this singular species, I shall lay 

 before the reader a comprehensive and very circumstantial 

 memoir on the subject, communicated to me by the writer, 

 Dr Samuel L. Mitchill, of New York, whose exertions, both 

 in his public and private capacity, in behalf of science, and in 

 elucidating the natural history of his country, are well known, 

 and highly honourable to his distinguished situation and 

 abilities. That peculiar tract, generally known by the name 

 of the Brushy Plains of Long Island, having been, for time 

 immemorial, the resort of the bird now before us, some account 

 of this particular range of country seemed necessarily connected 

 with the subject, and has, accordingly, been obligingly attended 

 to by the learned professor. 



"New York, Sept. 19, 1810. 



" Dear Sir, — It gives me much pleasure to reply to your 

 letter of the 12th instant, asking of me information concerning 

 the grouse of Long Island. 



" The birds which are known there emphatically by the 

 name of grouse, inhabit chiefly the forest range. This district 

 of the island may be estimated as being between forty and fifty 

 miles in length, extending from Beth phage, in Queen's County, 

 to the neighbourhood of the court-house, in Suffolk. Its 



