DUSKY GROUSE. 
477 
quite intoxicated with passion : they are seen, either on the 
ground, or on the fallen trunks of trees, with a proud deport- 
ment, an inflamed and fiery eye, the feathers of the head erect- 
ed, the wings dropped, the tail widely spread, parading and 
strutting about in all sorts of extravagant attitudes, and express- 
ing their feelings by sounds so loud as to be heard at a great 
distance. This season of ardour and abandonment is protracted 
till June. The deserted female lays, unnoticed by the male, 
far apart on the ground, among low and thick bushes, from 
eight to sixteen eggs, breeding but once in a season. They 
sit and rear their young precisely in the manner of the com- 
mon fowl, the chicks being carefully protected by the mother 
only, with whom they remain all the autumn and winter, not 
separating until the return of the breeding season. It is only 
at this period that the males seek the society of the females. 
The grouse are remarkably wild, shy, and untameable birds, 
dwelling in forests or in barren uncultivated grounds, avoid- 
ing cultivated and thickly inhabited countries, and keeping to- 
gether in families. The Lagopodes only live in very numerous 
flocks, composed of several broods, parting company when the 
return of spring invites them to separate in pairs of different 
sexes, which is always done by the birds of this division. Ex- 
cept in the breeding season, the grouse keep always on the 
ground, alighting on trees only when disturbed, or when going 
to roost at night ; by day retiring to the deepest part of the 
forest. The flesh of all grouse is delicious food, dark-coloured 
in some, and white in others, the dark being more compact, 
juicy, and richly flavoured, as in Tetrao cupido ; while the 
white, though somewhat dry, is distinguished for delicacy and 
lightness. Such are the Bonasm^ T. umbellus of America, and 
T, honasia of Europe. 
^ The grouse are distinguished by a short stout bill, feathered 
at base, and they are, of all gallinaceous birds, those in which 
the upper mandible is the most vaulted ; the feathers of the 
bill are very thick and close, and cover the nostrils entirely ; 
the tongue is short, fleshy, acuminate, and acute ; the eye is' 
