202 
INSESSORES CURSORES. 
dred, they resort, morning and evening, to the barn- 
yard, and feed around the grain-stacks, in company 
with the poultry, where they receive their portion, 
as it is scattered amongst them by the hand of the 
owner.” * 
Of the Grouse family we number six species, only 
three of which are found to the eastward of the 
vicinity of the Mississippi river ; these are the Canada 
Grouse, found only northward from the northern 
part of New York, and the Ruffed and Pinnated 
Grouse, which are very abundant, the former every- 
where north of Maryland, and the latter pretty 
generally distributed from Texas to Canada, more 
common in the west than to the eastward. These 
two species are, probably, next to the Wild Turkey, 
the finest game-birds which our Eastern States pro- 
duce. The markets of our cities are mo*stly well 
supplied with them during winter • the tenderness 
and delicacy of their flesh, and the fineness of its 
flavor, render it a great favorite with our epicures. 
The Pinnated Grouse, or Prairie Hen, as it is 
called in the West, although clad in very plain col- 
ors, is nevertheless a handsome and stately bird, es- 
pecially when, during the love season, he struts 
about among his rivals with tail erect, and expanded, 
his head thrown backward, the lateral feathers on 
the neck spread to their utmost, the orange-colored 
drums beneath them swelled with air, and the wings 
stiffened and drooping in the manner of the Turkey 
* Proceedings of Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila- 
delphia, 1851. 
