372 DUSKY GROUSE. 
ing cultivated and thickly inhabited countries, and keeping 
together in families. The Lagopodes only live in very num- 
erous flocks, composed of several broods, parting company 
when the return of spring invites them to separate in pairs 
of different sexes, which is always done by the birds of this 
division. Except in the breeding season, the grouse keep 
always on the ground, alighting on trees only when disturbed 
or when going to roost at night ; by day retiring to the deep- 
est part of the forest. The flesh of all grouse is delicious food, 
dark-coloured in some, and white in others, the dark being 
more compact, juicy, and richly flavoured, asin Tetrao Cupido ; 
while the white, though somewhat dry, is distinguished for 
delicacy and lightness. Such are the Bonasice, T. umbellus 
of America, and 7’. bonasia of Europe. 
The grouse are distinguished by a short stout bill, feathered 
at base, and they are, of all gallinaceous birds, those in which 
the upper mandible is the most vaulted; the feathers of the 
bill are very thick and close, and cover the nostrils entirely ; 
the tongue is short, fleshy, acuminate, and acute; the eye is 
surmounted by a conspicuous red and papillous naked space ; 
the tarsi are generally spurless in both sexes, and partly or 
wholly covered with slender feathers, which in the Lagopodes 
are thicker and longer than in the rest, extending not only 
beyond the toes, but growing even on the sole of the foot—a 
peculiarity which, agreeably to the observation of Buffon, of 
all animals is again met with only in the hare. These feathers 
in winter become still longer and closer. All the others have 
the toes scabrous beneath, and furnished with a pectinated 
row of processes on each side.* This roughness of the sole of 
the feet enables them to tread firmly on the slippery surface 
of the ground or frozen snow, or to grasp the branches of trees 
covered with ice. ‘Their nails are manifestly so formed as to 

* These processes are liable to fall off, at least in preserved skins 
It is owing to this circumstance that we committed several errors in 
characterising these birds in our “Synopsis of the Birds of the United 
States.” 
