and the wing coverts are marked with black, 
and tlie middle and large sicklea are of a 
green bronzed color, and the down beneath 
the whole plumage ia entirely gray. 
The form of the hen ia like that of the finest 
Cochin China. She ia low, large, compact ; 
her legs are strong, short-foathcrod, and hid¬ 
den under the thigh feathers. Her plumage 
is still more characteristic than that of the 
cock, being very like that of the Partridge. 
Cochin ; and I have seen and possessed birds 
many parts of the East of which they are 
not known to have been natives, many places 
having doubtless become better adapted to 
them through cleariug and cultivation than 
they were originally. 
One locality that occurs tome which seems 
well suited to them is Nantucket, and where 
now there is only migratory game consisting 
only of a few shore birds and water fowl. I 
Bhould think the berry known as the Meal 
Plum would supply them food and theexten- 
PLUMBAGO 
AMERICAN GAME BIRDS.-XI 
Is these days of general diffusion of chem¬ 
ical knowledge it is scarcely neccessarv to 
state that the “ black lead ” “or plumbago ” 
of commerce is not lead at a ll, or any com¬ 
pound of its composition. Neither is it a 
carburet of lead, and It Includes no lead 
whatever in iron, as is sometimes stated. It 
is simply carbon. Pure plumbago is pure 
carbon, impure plumbago ia impuro carbon. 
Its proper name is graphite, that ia writing 
stone. We may venture to describe it us the 
softest of all true solids, and have often 
pondered wonderiugly upon the apparently 
unnoticed,but very curious.chemico-mechan- 
ical paradox that the hardest and softest of 
all the solids existing upon the earth are, 
chemically speaking the same substance, 
graphite and the diamond being both car¬ 
bon. 
It is this wonderful softness, combined 
with persistent solidty, that enables ua to 
smear it over any other solid surface, and 
thus obtain a aolid paint, all body and no 
medium. For the class of castings to which 
it is commonly applied, where its application 
can be readily repeated and where it is not 
exposed to the direct action of water, it is 
unrivaled as a protecting film for iron. Its 
chemical action, so far as it does act when 
cold, is reducing, or anti-oxidizing. Its color 
and tone fire so similar to iron that Mr. 
Buskin himself could scarcely make ary 
aesthetic objection to its use, and the film is 
so marvelously thin that it obliterates 
nothing. There does not appear to have 
ever been any attempt to estimate the thick¬ 
ness of a well-brushed film of graphite, but 
it would seem that if a hundred strata 
of such films could be piled in contact with 
each other their combined thickness would 
fall short of that of the bhinnust gold leaf. 
THE PINNATED GRQUSE.-TETRAO CUPIDO. 
The Pinnated Grouse, Prairie Hen, or 
Heath lien, is found in Texas and through¬ 
out the Western prairies, but now rarely, if 
ever in the Eastern and Middle States. 
Description of Adult Mule. — Bill, short, 
robust, dusky. Head, small, with brown 
eyes, above which is a scarlet membrane. 
Neck, rather long. Body, bulky. Feet, of 
ordinary length, with a short, hind toe and 
long middle one. Plumage, compact; feath¬ 
ers broad and rounded ; those of the head 
and neck narrow, those of the crown elongat¬ 
ed, dark brown ; two tufts of lanceolate, 
elongated feathers on the sides of the neck, 
under which is an oblong, bare space of an 
orange color, capable of being inflated. 
Wingsfshort and curved. Tail, very short, 
much rounded, sloping on both sides. Gen¬ 
eral color of the tipper parts, blackish-brown, 
tipped with dull white. Lower parts marked 
with large transverse, curved bands of gray¬ 
ish-brown. Length, eighteen inches. 
The female is considerably smaller, and 
lacks the crest, neck-tufts and air-bags, but 
in other respects resembles the male. 
Grouse feed upon worms, insects and dif¬ 
ferent kinds of berries, being very fond of 
the Partridge Berry. In winter they subsist 
chiefly on acorns and buds of deciduous 
trees. They avoid swampy places and are 
remarkably attached to dry ground, and 
r ; m 
"■ y vv\/ v v Vvi ¥>l t 
> Av/ r) 1 Vlii 
Y • ' f >1 
EZ> GROUSE. 
whose plumage was exactly similar, the color 
only excepted,,so that one might reasonably 
have called one the Brown Partridge Cochin 
and the other the Gray Partridge Cochin, 
To this last is given the name of Partridge 
Brahma, but most of the variety are white 
at the breast, On the back and wings. The 
pattern of the feathers mentioned does not 
show on the sides of the breast, the shoul¬ 
ders, the tail covering, the thighs and the 
legs. The flight feathers and the tail are 
black, and those of the luicldc are regularly 
marked with black, as mentioned in de¬ 
scribing the cock. The abdomen is strongly 
mixed with gray, and iho same color is more 
visible than in the cock across the white part 
of the plumage. The comb should be straight 
and single for tho cock as well as tho hen. 
With the cock the hackle, back, shoulders 
and lance-shaped feathers should not he yel¬ 
low, as this is often the case with inferior 
birds, and hardly the slightest tinge of yel¬ 
low is admissible. 
They have made by a cross between the 
Black Cochin and Brahma a variety they call 
the Inverted Brahma. The body is entirely 
block, and the hackle, like that of tho ordi¬ 
nary Brahma, appears very clearly on tho 
The head of 
Note. —In No. V of American Game Birds 
the name of the one therein described is mis¬ 
printed in every instance. It should be 
Ruffed Grouse,, not Ruffled, the bird taking 
its name from the conspicuous ruff on its 
neck. R- 
NEW USE FOR TURPENTINE 
It has been discovered in Paris that spirits 
of turpentine is very effective in removing 
the offensive odor and fatty emanations 
of hones or ivory, while it also leaves the 
latter materials beautifully bleached. The 
best result is secured by exposing the articles 
in the fluid for three or four days in the sun, 
or a little longer if in the shade, allowing 
them also to rest upon strips of zinc so as to 
be a fraction of an inch above the bottom 
of the glass vessel employed. The turpen¬ 
tine acts as an oxidizing agent and the pro¬ 
duct of the combustion is an acid liquor 
which sinks to the bottom and strongly 
attacks the bones if these be allowed to 
touch it. It is also ascertained that this 
peculiar action of the turpentine is not con¬ 
fined exclusively to bones and ivory, but 
extends likow iso to wood of various kinds, 
especially beach, maple, elm and cork. 
THE POULTRY-KEEPER.—NO. 25 
THE BRAHMA POOTRA. 
A thick cloud envelops the origin of this 
variety, which seems to me (M. Jacque) to 
be another variety of the Shanghai. 
Introduced into France toward 1853, and a 
short time before in England ; the beauty of 
its plumage, the shape of the cock and ben, 
its flesh—preferable, perhaps, to that of the 
ordinary Cochin China—made it much sought 
after by many amateurs. The rage for pos¬ 
sessing it induced forced production, and the 
deplorable way of bringing up the chickens 
contributed rapidly to deteriorate these, 
birds. Inferior specimens are easy to pro¬ 
cure by crosses between the Cochin China, 
White Malay, Sec, 
The first specimens 1 saw were really 
what the Brahma ought to be. They had 
exactly the form and characteristics of the 
best-made Cochin China, but more devel¬ 
oped, because the size was larger. Tho back 
of the cock was perfectly horizontal, the 
shoulders large, the hind part formed by an 
enormous expansion of feathers on the ab¬ 
domen, and the thigh feathers were ex- ] 
tremely large. The t dl very short, the leg 
I short and strong, nearly 
entirely hidden under the 
thigh feathers. The shank 
very large and short, hid¬ 
den under a thick mass of 
feathers extending far on 
the toes ; the head and 
neck small for so large a 
The color of the plumage 
ia uot less characteristic. 
Each feather of the hackle 
(cock) should be marked 
with a lengthened black 
mark, and there is a like 
one on the back, shoulders, 
and lance-shaped feathers 
(Fig. 113). Feathers marked 
with a gray pattern, very 
like those of the Cuckoo 
Cochin China, are at the 
Km. 112 . side of the breast, near the 
thoulders, little sickles, the back part of the 
shigtis, and the feathers of the feet. The 
i feathers of the abdomen and sides are gray, 
mixed with white. Tlie breast is white, 
deep ground of the plumage 
the true Brahma should, both in the Cock and 
hen, have a plumage entirely white, only 
marked with black on the hackle at the ftiul 
of the wings and tail. Amateurs have made 
them as much like as they could to the Wiiite 
Cochin and White Malay, etc. The comb is 
generally double ,Malay), tho back at an 
angle of 45' instead of being horizontal. The 
hind part is scanty. Tho log is long, the 
feathers flowing, and entirely divided from 
the thigh feathers, The leg i3 long and 
without feathers. 
This variety, which I believe, is no other 
than a variety of Cochin China or Shanghai, 
is perhaps the best of tho different varieties. 
They lay longer (from forty to sixty eggs). 
The flesh is good, and the ben above all in 
the quality of acquiring weight is superior 
to that of other Cochins. The chickens are 
extremely home-loving, and not at all im¬ 
patient of confinement. As to the name of 
Brahma Pootra, it is that of a river in India. 
M. Jacque recommends a Brahma cock to 
be paired with Houdan and Crevo-Cieur hens. 
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC NOTES, 
known to abandon an entire tract of country 
when it again became covered with forest. 
These noble game birds, once abundant in 
Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 
probably in Massachusetts, have been ex¬ 
terminated from all their haunts in the East¬ 
ern and Middle States, and are now only to 
be found at the West. Some twenty-five or 
thirty years ago they still existed on Martha's 
Vineyard and were strictly preserved, but 
these islanders have probably long since 
shared tlie fate which earlier befel their 
brethren throughout the Eastern States. In 
the West the Conditions are more favorable 
for their continuance in the land in extent 
of range, climate and sparseness of popula¬ 
tion ; but, year by year, their numbers are 
becoming less, and only by rigorous protec¬ 
tion can they be saved from utter annihila¬ 
tion. And rigorous protection must be 
exercised to prevent the extinction of ail our 
game. We have laws enough already to do 
great good it properly enforced, but there is 
a prejudice among the mass against all game 
laws, and the people need to be made to un¬ 
derstand that it is to the interest of all that 
game should be protected, that such laws in 
this country are not for the benefit of any 
class but are for the good of rich and poor 
alike. This admitted, and all will acknowl¬ 
edge the wisdom of protecting game birds 
and animals during their breeding times and 
when the rigor of the season renders their 
means of subsistence precarious and, there¬ 
fore, their wholesale slaughter easily accom¬ 
plished by the unscrupulous. 
It would be well worth while to try the 
experiment of restocking with Pinnated 
Grouse their old haunts in Long Island and 
New Jersey, arid it is quite possible that they 
might be successfully introduced now in 
Condiments in Pouethy Diet. — Cayenne 
pepper, mustard or ginger can, with great 
benefit, be added to the food of fowls, to in¬ 
crease their vigor and to stimulate egg pro¬ 
duction. This apparently artificial diet will 
