504 
COCK OF THE PLAINS. 
trance of the south-east fork of the Columbia to that of Clark’s 
River. It appears also to extend to California, for there can 
be but little doubt that it is the bird erroneously called bustard 
by the travellers who have visited that country. Lewis and 
Clark state, that in its habits it resembles the grouse, (mean- 
ing probably T, phasianellus, ) except that its favourite food is 
the leaf and buds of the pulpy-leafed thorn. The gizzard is 
large, and much less compressed and muscular than in most 
gallinaceous birds, and perfectly resembles a maw. When the 
bird flies, he utters a cackling note, not unlike that of the do- 
mestic fowl. The flesh of the cock of the plains is dark, and 
only tolerable in point of flavour, and is not so palatable as 
either that of the pheasant or grouse. It is invariably found 
in the plains. 
The cock of the plains is precisely equal in size to the cock 
of the woods ; at least such is the result of a comparison of the 
female with the corresponding sex of the European bird, both 
lying before us. Each part exactly coincides in form and 
dimension, excepting that the tail rather gives the superiority 
to the American, so that if the male bears the same relative 
proportion to his female, the cock of the plains must be pro- 
claimed the largest of grouse. The two females are strikingly 
similar. The cock of the plains is, however, a much more 
greyish bird, wanting entirely the reddish that mottles, and 
occupies so much of the plumage of its analogue. This, the 
total want of beard-like appendages, and the singular shape of 
the tail, are the prominent discriminative features ; to which 
may be added, that the under wing -coverts, marbled with 
black in the European, are pure white in our new species, 
though this, as well as the want of reddish, might be ascribed 
to the youth of our specimen. However this may be, the re- 
maining differences will be better estimated by attending to 
the following minute and accurate description. 
The female of the cock of the plains, represented in the 
plate, of one-half the natural size, is from twenty-eight to 
thirty inches in length. The bill is one inch and a quarter 
