of ant eggs, without which, it is fcarcely poiUble to rear 
them ; was it not for the attention thus ftiewn by many 
perfons to the keeping up the flock, this valuable bird would 
foon be loft to this country, owing to the great demand for it 
at the tables of the w^calthy ; which notwithftanding the 
penalties of the game laws, offers a great temptation to the 
poacher, and the bird being unwary, his fnares are feldom 
placed without effeil. 
In the fpring the male may be heard at a diftance, con- 
tinually crowing and flapping its wings ; at this feafon its 
wings are a little extended, its tail drooping to the ground ; 
the (kin on the fides of the head becomes more brilliant, and 
it eredls the feathers that covers the auriculars ; in this ftate 
it marches forth in fearch of the females, around which it 
ftruts much in the manner of the domeftic cock ; when the 
female quits it to perform the office of incubation, the male 
often affociates with the poultry in the neighbouring farm- 
yards, and will intermix with the common hen ; Bewick fays 
he has known feveral inftances where they have produced a 
hybrid breed, but omits to mention whether this fpurious 
breed is prolific. 
A very curious change frequently takes place in the female, 
who afTumes the plumage of the male, and from that time 
ceafes to lay ; this ftrange transformation does not take place 
at any particular period of age, as we have feen birds of 
the fecond and third, up to the fixth year, that have thus 
altered ; in a paper of the late Mr. John Hunter, publifhed 
in the Philofophical Tranfadions for the year 1780, he fays, 
It is remarked by thofe that are converfant with thefe birds 
when 
