juicy and savoury, and though not often eaten now, was in former times an important addition to great banquets. It was served up by the sewer with much ceremony, dressed in its own brilliant plumage. The adventurous knight of the days of chivalry was accustomed to make his solemn vows, "before the Peacock and the Ladies."

FAMILY IV. TETRAONIDE.

(Grouse.)

The groups which form this extensive Family are distinguished from the Phasianide by their more simple appearance; by the absence of the naked crests and wattles that are so common among the last-named birds, as well as of the brilliant colours and metallic lustre of their plumage. In the Grouse we find no naked skin about the head, with the exception of the space which surrounds the eye; this, when present, is of a scarlet hue. The tail is in general very short, and in some genera only rudimentary; yet there are species, as the larger Grouse of Europe and America, and the Pintails of Africa, which manifest a tendency to the great development of this organ, which is so characteristic of the Pheasants. The hind toe which in the last-named Family is long and powerful, is in that before us small and weak, and in the extreme genera reduced to a rudiment; thus preparing us for the birds of the succeeding Family, in which it is altogether wanting.

Though some genera of the Tetraonida are

found in the warmer regions of the earth, yet the majority of them, and those the most typical of the group, are natives of the cold regions of the north hemisphere, or of the summits of alpine ranges of mountains. Many of these are protected from the cold by having the feet more or less clothed with feathers, in some extending even to the extremities of the toes.

The Grouse in general depart from the polygamous habits of their Order; pairing at the breeding season, and remaining in associations, each composed of a single brood, for the rest of the year; there are several species, however, which do not pair. During winter they congregate in large flocks, without distinction of broods, and continue thus assembled till the nuptial season. In most of the genera, there is a nuptial change of plumage, more or less obvious, and in those of very cold countries, there is a state of plumage peculiar to the winter season. They all breed on the ground, and with few exceptions lay a great number of eggs at a time: they are terrestrial in their general habits, running with great ease and celerity; some perch on the low stunted trees of cold climates, on the unexpanded leaf-buds of which they largely feed. Various kinds of cultivated grain, and the seeds of grasses, and of leguminous plants afford food to others. The flesh of almost all is highly esteemed for its tenderness and high flavour.

GENUS TETRAO. (LINN.)

The largest birds of the Family are found in this genus, the Capercailzie of Northern Europe,

and the Cock of the Plains of the Rocky Mountains being scarcely inferior to the Turkey in dimensions. It is thus characterized: the beak is short, very strong, and arched from the base to the tip; the nostrils are situated on each side of the base, partly hidden by an arched scale, and small close-set feathers. A naked skin above the eyes, of a bright scarlet colour; enlarging in spring. Wings short, rounded, and hollow: tail of sixteen feathers, very ample, and expanding. Feet naked, with the edges of the toes toothed; the tarsi feathered.

The dense pine-forest, the wild plain, the mountain and the barren rock, the moorland and the heath, are the resorts of the true Grouse. The northern part of our own Island, in common with the colder regions of Scandinavia and Russia, formerly produced, in considerable abundance, the most magnificent species known, the Capercailzie, or Cock of the Wood (Tetrao urogallus, LINN.); but his size, beauty, imposing appearance, and savoury flesh long ago caused his extermination from our woods. The last specimen is recorded to have been killed in Scotland about seventy years ago. By the exertions of some of the Scottish nobility, however, this fine bird seems likely to become again a wild denizen of our northern woods. In particular, Lord Breadalbane procured from Sweden at great expense, in the year 1838 and the early part of 1839, forty-four adult Capercailzie, the majority of which were hens. A portion of these were put into a large aviary, and others turned out into the forest, and we are informed that both divisions succeeded, and that seventy-nine young birds were known to be

hatched out during the season of 1839. By an article published in the Sporting Review, for April, 1840, it appears that the greatest success was obtained by putting the eggs laid in the aviary into the nests of wild Black Grouse. Fortynine young Capercailzie were by this single method alone known to be hatched in the open country.*

The Capercailzie is about the size of a Turkey: a fine male will sit fully two feet above the branch on which he is perched; Mr. Yarrell gives the length of a specimen as three feet four inches. The general plumage is blackish, minutely freckled

*See Yarrell's Brit. Birds, ii. 331.

R

with whitish, so as to impart a grey hue; the breast is of a fine dark green; the quills chestnutred; the tail-coverts, which are lengthened, run down in two series, and are tipped with white; the tail itself is black.

The leaves and young shoots of the Scotch fir, the berries of the juniper, cranberries, &c., with worms and insects, constitute the common food of the Capercailzie; in winter he eats also the buds of the birch.

"

"In the spring," observes Mr. Lloyd, in his Field Sports of the North of Europe, and often when the ground is still deeply covered with snow, the cock stations himself on a pine, and commences his love-song, or play, as it is termed in Sweden, to attract the hens about him.

This

is usually from the first dawn of day to sunrise, or from a little after sunset until it is quite dark. During his play the neck of the Capercali is stretched out, his tail is raised and spread like a fan, his wings droop, his feathers are ruffled up, and in short he much resembles in appearance an angry Turkey-cock. He begins his play with a call something resembling the word peller, peller, peller; these sounds he repeats at first at some little intervals; but as he proceeds they increase in rapidity, until at last, and after perhaps the lapse of a minute or so, he makes a sort of gulp in his throat, and finishes by drawing in his breath. During the continuance of this latter process, which only lasts a few seconds, the head of the Capercali is thrown up, his eyes are partially closed, and his whole appearance would denote that he is worked up into an agony of passion.