SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 
201 
th. 
,, middle of June; they utter a piping noise, some- 
jat like chickens. Attempts have been repeated y 
to domesticate them, hut have as constantly 
S :’H all the young, though carefully nursed hy their 
v‘ e Pniother, the common hen, dying one after another, 
j/°kably for want of suitable food. This species has 
c v «ral cries : the cock has a shrill crowing note, rather 
,1 J !e ; and both sexes, when disturbed, or whilst on 
v , *ing, repeat frequently the cry of each, each. This 
m 11 known sound conducts the hunter to their hiding 
pi a - • ’ ' ' ’ 
Hi, 
mown sounu uuuuuv^ — . p 
and they are also detected, by producing with 
small, lateral, rigid tail-feathers, a curious noise, 
„ Se mbling that made by a winnowing fan. W hen in 
i ° c ii -cirill wPifrli nnwarns nr 
, - order, “one of these grouse will weigh upwards of 
1;,? pounds, being very plump. Their flesh is of a 
brown colour, and very compact, though, at the 
S i,' ,le time, exceedingly juicy and well tasted, being far 
>rior in this respect to the common ruffed, and 
^oachimv in excellence the delicious pinnated grouse. 
Jke adult male sharp-tailed grouse, in full pipage is 
kt^en inches long, and twenty-three in breadth. The 
a ,s little more than an inch long, blackish, pale at 
t * kase of the lower mandible, and with its ridge 
'kiin,, between the small feathers covering the 
C*ils°: these are blackish, edged with pale rusty, the 
predominating ; the irides are hazel. The general 
of dark and light rusty, on a rather deep and 
s . s y blackish ground, the feathers of the head and 
Vic kave but a single band of rusty, and are tipped 
er,i Predominating ; tne lnues are nazei. J " c" 
SS of the bird is a mixture of white, and different 
Ufyj „ . - , v v , < - —n+'l./i** ilnon nnn 
Peck 
p, k white; those, however, of the crown, are ot a 
Id c k deeper and more glossy black, with a sing 1 ® 
spot of rusty on each side, and a very taint 
tif of the same, forming a tolerably pure black space on 
bin to P of the head. The feathers between the eye and 
3 ttl ose around the eye, above and beneath, on the 
ri;:® 8 «f the head, and on the throat, are somewhat of a 
tjZy yellowish white, with a small biack spot on each 
giving these parts a dotted appearance ; hut the 
° ts fewer and smaller on the throat. The feathers of 
