192 
TETRAO OBSCURUS. 
and thick bushes, from eight to sixteen eggs, brcy^ 
but once in a season. They sit and rear their .V 0 .^, 
precisely in the manner of the common fowl, the ! 
being carefully protected by the mother only> 
whom they remain all the autumn and winter Ji 
separating until the return of the breeding seaso"- J 
is only at this period that the males seek the socie . 
the females. jji 
The grouse are remarkably wild, shy, and untani 1 ’^ 
birds, dwelling in forests or in barren, unculh'y 
grounds, avoiding cultivated and thickly inb>“jji 
countries, and keeping together in families. p 
Lagopodes only live in very numerous flocks, c ^t 
posed of several broods, parting company whop . jl 
return of spring invites them to separate in gl 
different sexes, which is always done by the bimy,, 
this division. Except in the breeding seasoft 
grouse keep always on the ground, alighting on 
only when disturbed, or when going to roost at xil vj.|it 
by day retiring to the deepest part of the forest- ^ jti 
flesh of all grouse is delicious food, dark colour^ ^ 
some, and white in others, the dark being more 
pact, juicy, and richly flavoured, as in Tetrao cup ' ^ 
while the white, though somewhat dry, is disting u,5 . ( ir. 
for delicacy and lightness. Such are the 
T. umbel/us of America, and T. bonmirn of EuroP e ' j)|, 
The grouse are distinguished by a short stout 
feathered at base, and they are, of all gallinaceous y J; 
those in which the upper mandible is the most van* j 
the feathers of the bill are very thick and clos e > ^ 
cover the nostrils entirely ; the tongue is 
fleshy, acuminate, and acute ; the eye is S urm0 ul t jii 
by a conspicuous red and papillous naked space ! (l ; 
tarsi are generally spurless in both sexes, and P a . d 1 '’ 
wholly covered with slender feathers, which Jtl cS t, 
Lagopodes are thicker and longer than in the ji 
extending not only beyond the toes, but growing ,,]v 
on the sole of the foot — a peculiarity which, agre^jj 
to the observation of Buffon, of all animals 
met with only in the hare. These feathers in ' 
