V' 
84 B I R 
which laft place it vifits towards the end of the in¬ 
undations of the Nile*. Except AEgypt it affedls 
mountanous, and rocky fituations ; and builds its 
neft in high cliffs, or ruined towers, and lays four 
or five eggs white fpotted with a dirty yellow. It 
feeds on infers, arid alfo on new fown corn : they 
commonly fly high, make a fhriller noife than the 
jackdaw, and may be taught to fpeak. It is a 
bird of an elegant (lender make, adlive, reftlefs, 
and thieving; much taken with glitter, and fo 
meddling as not to be traded where things of 
confequence lie. It is very apt to catch up bits 
of liohted flicks : fo that there are inflances of 
& J 
* Hajfelquifls itin. 240. 
D S. [Clafs 11. 
houfes being fet on fire by its means; which is the 
reafon that Camden calls it incendiaria avis. Se¬ 
veral of the TNeljh and Cornijh families bear this 
bird in their coat of arms. It is found in Corn¬ 
wall , Flintjhire , Caernarvonjhire , and Anglefey , in 
the cliffs and caflles along the fhores. 
Its weight is thirteen ounces ; the breadth thir¬ 
ty-three inches : the length fixteen : its color is 
wholly black, beautifully gloffed over with blue 
and purple : the legs and bill are of a bright orange 
inclining to red, the tongue almofl as long as the 
bill, and a little cloven : the claws large, hooked 
and black. 
GENUS XIII. The G R O U S. 
* With legs feathered to the feet: broad fcarlet eye-brows. 
t ■ * * 
X. ' * J $ ' 
** With naked legs- 
: * 
SPECIES I. The Cock of the Wood. Plate M. 
The Hen of the Wood. Plate M*. 
Cock of the mountain, or wood- 
JVil orn. 172. 
Rail fyn. av. 53 - 
Capricalca. Sib- Scot. 16. Tab. 14, 
18. 
Urogallus major (the male.) Gefner 
av. 490. 
rr^ HIS fpecies is found in no other part 
of Great-Britain than the northern 
highlands of Scotland ; and even there 
not frequently. We believe that the breed is ex- 
tin£l in Ireland\ where it was formerly found ; it 
inhabits wooded and mountanous countries ; in 
particular forefls of pines, birch-trees, and junipers; 
feeding on the tops of the former, and berries of 
the latter ; which often infe£ls the flefh with fuch 
a tafte$ as to render it fcarce eatable. It lays from 
fix to eight eggs. 
Briffon av. I. 182. 
Grygallus major (the female.) Gef¬ 
ner av. 495. 
Tetrao urogallus. Lin.Jyfl. 159, 
Pontop. 2. 1 o 1. 
Klein. Stem. Tab. 27, 
The length of the cock is two feet eight in¬ 
ches ; the breadth three feet ten inches; its weight 
fometimes fourteen pounds; the female is much 
lefs, its length being only twenty-fix inches; its 
breadth only forty-one. A defcription of thefe is 
needlefs, their great fize at once diftinguilhes them 
from all others of the genus.* 
SPECIES 
’ - ■*'’ i ^ j 1 
* We are obliged to Gefner and Willoughby for the meafurements and 
weights of thefe biyds, having feen only dried fpecimens of them. 
"v. 
