256 RUFFED GROUSE. 



woods, beyond reach of view, before it alights. With a good 

 dog, however, they are easily found ; and at some times 

 exhibit a singular degree of infatuation, by looking down 

 from the branches where they sit on the dog below, who, the 

 more noise he keeps up, seems the more to confuse and stupify 

 them, so that they may be shot down, one by one, till the 

 whole are killed, without attempting to fly off. In such cases, 

 those on the lower limbs must be taken first ; for, should the 

 upper ones be first killed, in their fall they alarm those below, 

 who immediately fly off. In deep snows they are usually 

 taken in traps, commonly dead traps, supported by a figure 

 4 trigger. At this season, when suddenly alarmed, they 

 frequently dive into the snow, particularly when it has newly 

 fallen, and coming out at a considerable distance, again take 

 wing. They are pretty hard to kill, and will often carry off 

 a large load to the distance of two hundred yards, and drop 

 down dead. Sometimes, in the depth of winter, they approach 

 the farmhouse, and lurk near the barn or about the garden. 

 They have also been often taken young, and tamed, so as to 

 associate with the fowls ; and their eggs have frequently been 

 hatched under the common hen ; but these rarely survive 

 until full grown. They are exceedingly fond of the seeds of 



cock is produced apparently by the rapid exertion of the muscles acting 

 on the roots of the quills. 



Under this species may be mentioned the T. Sabinii of Douglas. It 

 is so very closely allied, that Dr Eichardson remarks, " After a careful 

 comparison of Mr Douglas's T. Sabinii, deposited in the Edinburgh 

 Museum, they appeared to me to differ in no respect from the young of 

 T. umbellus." 



The characters of T. Sabinii, given by Mr Douglas, are — Rufus, nigro 

 notatus ; dorso maculis cordiformibus, nucha aliscrue lineis ferrugineo- 

 flovis ; abdomine albo brunneo fasciato ; rectricibus fasciatis, fascia 

 subapicali lata nigra. 



Mr Douglas thinks that there is some difference between the specimens 

 of T. umbellus killed on the Rocky Mountains and more northern parts, 

 from those in the States of New York and Pennsylvania, and proposes, 

 if they should be hereafter found distinct, that it should stand as T. 

 umbelloides. — Ed. 



