Grouse.J 



Monte. Gallo selvatico, Gallo cedrone, of the Italians; 

 der Bi'rk-hahn of the Germans; Orrfulgl of the 



Norwegians. . ,, 



"The bonny black-cock" is still a native of the 

 wilder districts of the British Isles. It is common 

 in the Highlands of Scotland, in Northumberland, 

 some parts of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, in North 

 Wales, in Surrey, Hampshire,Dorsetshire, andDevon- 

 shire, wherever wild heaths and pine-woods favour 

 its increase. On the Continent it is found m France 

 and Germany, and is abundant inDenmark, Sweden, 

 Norway, and Russia. In its general habits and 

 manners this fine species and the preceding closely 

 agree, but 1Mb black-cock is not so strictly a forest 

 bird ; for though it frequents pine-woods, and the 

 glens and ravines among mountain scenery, where 

 the birch and alder overtop an oozy bed teeming 

 with long rank herbage, it is often seen on the sides 

 of the heathy hill, or amidst the furze, heath, and 

 willows covering a wide extent of bog-land inter- 

 vening between the pine-woods and the cultivated 

 country. During winter the males associate in 

 flocks, but separate early in the spring, each choos- 

 ing its own station, of which it is sole master, and 

 for which it has often to engage in desperate con- 

 tests with its rivals. It now begins its loud call-note 

 of invitation, uttered chiefly in the morning, while 

 it displays a variety of attitudes; and mating with 

 several females, it soon establishes its seraglio. At 

 this season the plumage of the male assumes the 

 richest lustre, and the naked skin over the eye be- 

 comes of the deepest scarlet. The female breeds 

 in May, making a rude nest under the shelter of 

 intertangled herbage or brushwood, and depositing 

 from six to ten eggs of a yellowish grey tinge, 

 spotted with light brown. The young of both sexes 

 have at first the same garb, that of the female ; but 

 the young males assume their own dress in the au- 

 tumn, and form a distinct society from that of the 

 females, which is dissolved on the approach »of 

 spring. The shoots of heath, various moorland 

 berries, the buds of the birch and alder, the young 

 shoots of the fir tribe, and grain of various kinds, 

 constitute the food of this species. The young feed 

 abundantly on insects and their larvae. 



The black grouse is shy and wary, especially the 

 old male, and" the sportsman who has killed several 

 brace of poults, or young birds, may perhaps have 

 not seen above one or two full-plumaged cocks 

 during the whole day's sport. The adult male, 

 which exceeds the female in size, weighs about four 

 pounds. The colour is deep black, with a white 

 band across each wing. The upper surface glitters 

 with brilliant blue and purple reflexions. Under 

 tail -coverts white. The tail is forked, and each 

 part curls outwardly in consequence of the form 

 of the four outer feathers, which are square at their 

 ends, with a semicircular sweep laterally, the outer- 

 most on each side being the longest and most curled. 

 The female weighs about two pounds. Above 

 orange brown, speckled, barred with black; the 

 greater wing-coverts tipped with white ; breast 

 chestnut-brown barred with black. Tail slightly 

 forked, ferruginous, spotted with black ; under tail- 

 coverts white, streaked with black. 



For an account of a hybrid bird between the 

 cock-pheasant and grey-hen, see * Zool. Proceeds.' 

 1835, p. 62. 



1759.— The Dusky Grouse 

 (Tetrao dbscurus). In the north-western regions of 

 America, where the mountain-chain separates the 

 waters of the Mississippi from those which flow 

 towards the Pacific, the dusky grouse may be re- 

 garded as taking the station of the black grouse of 

 Europe. " The dusky grouse," says Bonaparte, " is 

 eminently distinguished from all other known spe- 

 cies by having the tail slightly rounded, and com- 

 posed of twenty broad rounded feathers. This pe- 

 culiarity of the extraordinary number of tail-feathers 

 is only found besides in the cock of the plains, in 

 which, however, they ?re not rounded, but very 

 acute." Like the rest of the 

 o (and subgenus Bonasia), 

 rft Gird, \a tyrannically polygamous, and 

 females, indifferent alike 

 to them and to their progeny. 



The male of this species is entirely dusky black, 

 and exceeds the female in size. The general plu- 

 mage of the latter is dusky brown, variegated with 

 ochre-yellow. 



1760. — The Pinnated Grouse i 

 {Tetrao Gupido). This species, celebrate \ 

 exquisite flavour of its flesh, is strictly com 

 certain portions of North America ; open * J 

 interspersed with trees or partially overgr- 

 shrub-oak being its favourite haunts. '• / 

 ingly," says Wilson, " we find these birds 

 grouse-plains of New Jersey, in Burlington 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



399 



as well as on the bushy plains of Long Island ; 

 among the pines and shrub-oaks of Pocamo in 

 Northampton county, over the whole extent of the 

 Barrens of Kentucky ; on the luxuriant plains and 

 prairies of the Indiana territory, and on the vast 

 and remote plains of the Columbia river." In the 

 bushy thickets of these localities they find food and 

 shelter. The male is remarkable for a naked sac- 

 culated appendage on each side of the neck, which 

 at ordinary times hangs wrinkled and. flaccid, but 

 which during the pairing season is distended with 

 air, and much resembles in size and colour a large 

 orange. With this appendage is evidently con- 

 nected the strange noises which the bird utters at 

 that season, like the subdued blowing of a horn or 

 conch, consisting of three notes, each strongly ac- 

 cented. " While uttering these tones the bird ex- 

 hibits all the ostentatious gesticulations of a turkey- 

 cock, erecting and fluttering his neck-wings (or 

 pointed frills)', and passing before the female, and 

 close before his fellows as if in defiance." Now 

 and then are heard some cackling notes, chiefly 

 uttered by the males while engaged in fight, on 

 which occasion " they leap up against each other 

 exactly in the manner of turkeys, but seemingly 

 with more malice than effect." The males begin 

 their call before daybreak, and continue it till eight 

 or nine in the morning, when the parties separate 

 to seek for food. 



In severe weather these birds approach barns and 

 farm-houses, mix with the poultry to glean up the 

 scattered grains of Indian corn, and seem almost 

 domesticated. Many are at this time taken in 

 traps, and the gun thins their numbers. The nest 

 of this species is placed under brushwood on a 

 tussock of long grass, and formed with little art ; 

 the eggs are about fifteen in number, and of a 

 brownish white. The young form coveys or packs, 

 which separate on the approach of spring. 



The male of the pinnated grouse weighs about 

 three pounds and a half. The neck is furnished 

 withasortof winglet above each sac, composed of 

 eighteen feathers/of which five are black, and the rest, 

 which are shorter, black streaked with brown. The 

 head slightly crested, and over each eye is a semi- 

 circular comb of rich orange. 



The general plumage is variegated with trans- 

 verse markings of black, reddish brown, and white. 

 The tail is very short and of a dusky brown. Breast 

 and under parts brown, transversely marked with 

 white; throat marked with touches of reddish 

 brown, white, and black; under the eye a dark 

 streak of brown. The female is considerably less 

 than the male, of a lighter colour, destitute of the 

 neck-wings, of the naked sacculated appendages, 

 and the semicircular comb over the eye. Green 

 lichen, various moorland berries, clover-leaves, the 

 buds of the pine, grain, and insects, constitute the 

 food of the pinnated grouse. The legislature of 

 the States inflicts a penalty of two dollars and a half, 

 with costs, on any person who kills one of these birds, 

 called in popular language heath-hens, within the 

 counties of Suffolk or Queen s, between the 1st of 

 April and the 5th of October ; but unfortunately, the 

 law operates very little towards their preservation. 



1761, 1762.— The Ruffed Grouse 

 (Tetrao umbelhts). Bonasia umbellus, Bonaparte. 

 This species, the partridge of the Eastern States, 

 and the pheasant of Pennsylvania and the Southern 

 States, inhabits an extensive range of country. " It 

 is common at Moose Fort, on Hudson's Bay, in lat. 

 50° ; frequent in the upper parts of Georgia ; is very 

 abundant in Kentucky and the Indian territory, and 

 was found by Captains Lewis and Clarke in crossing 

 the great range of mountains that divides the waters 

 of the Columbia and Missouri, more than 3000 

 miles by admeasurement from the mouth of the 

 latter. Its favourite places of resort are high moun- 

 tains covered with the balsam pine, hemlock, and 

 other evergreens. Unlike the pinnated grouse, 

 it always prefers the woods, is seldom or never 

 found in open plains, but loves the pine-sheltered 

 declivities of mountains near streams of water." 

 This bird is solitary in its habits, being usually 

 found singly or in pairs, and seldom in coveys of 

 more than four or five together. 



The male is remarkable for producing a drum- 

 ming noise, principally during the spring, but occa- 

 sionally at other seasons ; it is the call of the cock 

 to his mate, and when heard in the solitudes of the 

 woods has a singular effect. This noise is not the 

 voice of the bird, but is occasioned by smart strokes 

 of the wings. " The bird, standing on an old pros- 

 trate log, generally in a retired and sheltered situa- 

 tion, lowers his wings, erects his expanded tail, con- 

 tracts his throat, elevates the two tufts of feathers 

 on the neck, and inflates his whole body somewhat 

 in the manner of a turkey-cock, strutting and wheel- 



ing about with great stateliness. After a few ma- 

 noeuvres of this kind he begins to strike with his 

 stiffened wings in short and quick strokes, which 

 become more and more rapid until they run into 

 each other," producing a hollow drumming noise, 

 which may be heard at a considerable distance. 

 This is most commonly performed in the morning 

 and evening, but is repeated at intervals during the 

 day, and guides the gunner to the retreat of the 

 bird, which is easily shot. 



The female breeds in May, artfully concealing her 

 nest, which contains from nine to fifteen eggs. She 

 carefully attends her brood, and, like the partridge of 

 Europe, puts various manoeuvres into practice, in 

 order to decoy intruders from the place of their con 

 cealment. 



The ruffed grouse flies with great vigour, and with 

 a loud whirring noise, and when sprung sweeps to a 

 considerable distance through the wood before 

 alighting. Great numbers are killed for the table, 

 and, according to Wilson, the birds are in the best 

 condition in September and October, during which 

 months they feed chiefly on whortle-berries and the 

 little red aromatic partridge-berry. 



The general colour of the male is chestnut-brown, 

 mottled and undulated with blackiB^ brown and 

 grey ; tail grey, undulated and barred with blackish 

 brown ; shoulder-tufts velvet-black with green re- 

 flexions, and covering a large space of the neck 

 destitute of feathers. The female" is paler tinted 

 than the male ; the shoulder-tufts are orange-brown. 



1763. — The Cock of the Plains 



(Tetrao Uropliasianus). Centrocercus Urophasianus, 

 Swainson. 



This species, which is a native of the barren arid 

 plains along the river Columbia and the interior of 

 North California, appears to have been first recorded 

 by Lewis and Clarke, and has been described by Mr. 

 Douglas, who found it among the Rocky Mountains. 

 From the slender form of the quill-feathers of the 

 wings, and those of the tail, the flight, of this species 

 is slow, unsteady, and accompanied by a whirring 

 sound. " When startled," says Mr. Douglas, " the 

 voice, cuck, cuck, cuck, is like that of the common 

 pheasant. They pair in March and April. Small 

 eminences on the banks of streams are the places 

 usually selected for celebrating the weddings ; the 

 time generally about sunrise. The wings of the 

 male are lowered, buzzing on the ground; the 

 tail spread like a fan, somewhat, erect ; the bare 

 yellow oesophagus is inflated to a prodigious size — 

 fully half as large as his body — in marked con- 

 trast with the scale-like feathers below it on 

 the breast, and the flexile silky feathers on the neck, 

 which on these occasions stand erect. In this gro- 

 tesque form he displays in the presence of his 

 intended mate a variety of attitudes. His love-song 

 is a confused, grating, but not offensively disagree- 

 able tone, — something that we can imitate, but have 

 a difficulty in expressing — Hurr-liurr-hurr-r-r-r- 

 hoo, ending in a deep hollow tone, not unlike the 

 sound produced by blowing into a large reed. Nest 

 on the ground, under the shade of Purshia and 

 Artemisia, or near streams, among Phalaris arundi- 

 nacea, carefully constructed of dry grass and slender 

 twigs. Eggs, from thirteen to seventeen, about the 

 size of those of the common fowl, of a wood-brown 

 colour, with irregular chocolate blotches on the thick 

 end. Period of incubation twenty-one to twenty-two 

 days. The young leave the nest a few hours after 

 they are hatched. In the summer and autumn 

 months these birds are seen in small troops, and in 

 winter and spring in flocks of several hundreds." 



The flesh is dark coloured, but not particularly 

 good in point of flavour. The sacculation of the 

 oesophagus, to which allusion has been made, is 

 double, and the skin covering it deep orange-yellow. 

 The male is about twenty-two inches in length, and 

 weighs from six to eight pounds. The general 

 colour of the upper parts is light brown, mottled 

 and variegated with dark umber-brown and yellow- 

 ish white. Shafts of all the feathers of the breast 

 black and rigid ; the feathers of the sides are white 

 and scale-like : throat and head varied with blackish 

 on a white ground ; on each side of the protube- 

 rances, and higher up on the neck, is a tuft of 

 feathers, having the shafts greatly elongated, naked, 

 gently curved, and tipped with a pencil of black 

 barbs. In the female these filamentous feathers are 

 wanting ; her size is much less than that of the 

 male, and there are no scale-like feathers on the 

 chest and sides. 



1764. — A Group of Game. 



o, the Capercailzie ; b, the Pheasant ; c, the Quail ; 

 d, the Red-legged Partridge ; e, the Red Grouse ; 

 /, the Black Grouse ; g, the Ptarmigan ; h, the 

 Common Partridge. 



END OF VOLUME I. 



