AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
13 
RUFFED GROUS, OR PHEASANT. 
TETRAO UMBELLUS. 
[Plate II.] 
Jlrct. Zool. p. 301, No. 179. — Ruffed Heath-cock , or 
Grous, Edw. 248. — La Gelinote hupee de Pennsyl- 
vanie, Briss. i. 214. — PI. Enl. 104. — Buff. ii. 281. — 
Phil. Trans. 62, 393. — Turt. Syst. 454. 
This is the Partridge of the eastern States, and the 
Pheasant of Pennsylvania, and the southern districts. It 
is represented in the plate of about one third of its size; 
and was faithfully copied from a perfect and very beautiful 
specimen in the collection of S. P. Griffiths, prepared by 
T. R. Peale. 
This elegant species is well known in almost every 
quarter of the United States, and appears to inhabit a very 
extensive range of country. It is common at Moose fort, 
on Hudson’s bay, in lat 51°; is frequent in the upper parts 
of Georgia; very abundant in the States of Kentucky and 
Indiana; and was found by captains Lewis and Clarke in 
crossing the great range of mountains that divide the 
waters of the Columbia and Missouri, more than three 
thousand miles, by their measurement, from the mouth of 
the latter. Its favourite places of resort are high moun- 
tains, covered with the balsam pine, hemlock, laurel, and 
such like evergreens. Unlike the Pinnated Grous, 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 great difference 
of disposition in two species, whose food seems to be 
nearly the same, is very extraordinary. In those open 
plains called the barrens of Kentucky, the Pinnated Grous 
was seen in great numbers, but none of the Ruffed; while 
in the high groves with which that singular tract of coun- 
try is interspersed, the latter, or Pheasant, was frequently 
met with; but not a single individual of the former. 
The native haunts of the Pheasant being a cold, high, 
mountainous and woody country, it is natural to expect 
that as we descend thence to the sea shores, and the low, 
flat and warm climate of the southern States, these birds 
should become more rare, and such indeed is the case. In 
the lower parts of Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, they are 
very seldom observed; but as we advance inland to the 
mountains, they again make their appearance. In the 
lower parts of New Jersey we indeed occasionally meet 
with them; but this is owing to the more northerly situa- 
tion of the country ; for even here they are far less numer- 
ous than among the mountains. 
Dr. Turton, and several other English writers, have 
spoken of a Long-tailed Grous, said to inhabit the back 
D 
parts of Virginia, which can be no other than the present 
species, there being, as far as I am acquainted, only these 
two,'* the Ruffed and Pinnated Grous, found native within 
the United States. 
The manners of the Pheasant are solitary; they are sel- 
dom found in coveys of more than four or five together, 
and more usually in pairs or singly. They leave their 
sequestered haunts in the woods early in the morning, and 
seek the path or road, to pick up gravel, and glean among 
the droppings of the horses. In travelling among the 
mountains that bound the Susquehanna, I was always able 
to furnish myself with an abundant supply of these birds, 
every morning, without leaving the path. If the weather 
be foggy, or lowering, they are sure to be seen in such 
situations. They generally move along with great stateli- 
ness, spreading their long tails in a fan-like manner. The 
drumming, as it is usually called, of the Pheasant, is 
another singularity of this species. This is performed by 
the male alone. In walking through solitary woods fre- 
quented by these birds, a stranger is surprised by suddenly 
hearing a kind of thumping, very similar to that produced 
by striking two full-blown ox-bladders together, but much 
louder; the strokes at first are slow and distinct; but 
gradually increase in rapidity till they run into each other, 
resembling the rumbling sound of very distant thunder, 
dying away gradually on the ear. After a few minutes 
pause, this is again repeated; and in a calm day may be 
heard nearly half a mile off. This drumming is most com- 
mon in spring, and is the call of the cock to his favourite 
female. In the early part of the season, it frequently hap- 
pens that this drumming attracts the attention of some 
rival cock, which is led to the spot from whence it pro- 
ceeds, when a most furious battle takes place between them 
as competitors for the hen, and owing to the gameness of 
these birds, it lasts for a considerable time; victory, how- 
ever, is generally on the side of the injured party, owing 
probably to the greater degree of fierceness with which he 
combats, in protection of his favourite, than that exhibited 
by his antagonist. They fight keenly, and strike exceeding 
hard with their wings, alternately seizing each other with 
their bills. This drumming is produced in the following 
manner. — ( Vide Plate II. ) The bird, standing on an 
old prostrate log, generally in a retired and sheltered 
situation, 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, something in the man- 
ner of the turkey cock, strutting and wheeling about with 
* Since Wilson’s researches, four other species have been discovered, viz: 
Dusky Grous, Tetrao Obscurus. Spotted Grous, T. Canadensis. Long-tailed 
Grous, T. Phasianellus, and Cock of the Plains, T. Urophasianellus. — Syn. 
Birds. U. S. by C. L. Buonaparte. 
