THE RED GROUSE PTABHIOAN. 149 
entire leng^th is about sixteen inches, the weight 
about one and a. half pounds. 
According to Dr Rii liardfinn, the Willow Grouse 
is partially rai^jratnry in t!i(» fur countries; it breeds 
in tiie valleys of the Rocky Mountatns, and, collecting 
in flocks on tlie approach of winter, retires south- 
ward as the severity of the weather iticreasea. On 
the' shores of Hudson's Bay, it assemhles in vast flocks 
during winter, 10,000 being sometimes captured in 
a single seaaon. Greenland, Iceland, and the valleys 
of the Alpt^, are almost their only hahitatlons in the 
old world, frcqupiuing rather wet and hruj^hy sitna- 
tiuns. Ir> Afijcriea, they shelter themselfes among 
tbc thickeH of willow and divarf lircb. They pass 
the ni[ifit in Itoles in ttie snow, and when perceived, 
practise a novel artifice in attempting to escape ; they 
often terminate their flight by diving precipitately in- 
to the loose snow, ^vorkmg thetr way with considerable 
celerity beneath its suiface. 
The next bird we shall notice is 
