352 



UNITED STATES. 



black, and tipped with white. Feet feathered, with 

 short dingy white feathers, to the toes. Toes pec- 

 tinated. 



The female wants both crest and ruff, the plum* 

 age generally like the male. 



They are not quite so large as our common fowls. 

 They inhabit North America from Carolina to Hud- 

 son's Bay. A letter of Mr. Bartram's to Mr. Ed"* 

 wards describes their manners very accurately : 



" It is (says Mr. B.) a fine bird when his gaiety is 

 displayed, that is, when he spreads his tail like that 

 of a turkey cock, and erects a circle of feathers 

 round his neck like a ruff, walking very stately with 

 an even pace, and making a noise something like a 

 turkey ; at which time the hunters must fire imme- 

 diately at him, or he files away directly two or three 

 hundred yards before he lights on the ground. 



There is something-very remarkable in what we 

 we call thumping, which they do with their wings, 

 by clapping them against their sides: the cock bird 

 stands on a fallen tree, and gradually swells his 

 breast, like a powting pigeon, then begins to clap his 

 wings, the strokes being about two seconds of time 

 distant from each other, and repeats them quicker 

 and quicker, until they run into one another, for 

 about two minutCS ; then He ceases for about six or 

 eight minutes before he begins again. The sound is 

 heard near half a mile, by which means they are 

 discovered by the hunters. They commonly exer- 

 cise in thumping Spring and Fall, at about nine or 

 ten in the moruing, and four or five in the after'-^ 

 noon," 



