111;.I I
Iji
la I' ; ili Till I I lit!
XI If
BONASA STLVESTEIS. S t e p h .
HAZEL GROUSE.
TETKAO BONASIA, liun., Sy.L N . t , vol. i., f . 215 (911 ..lit i).-Smol., Sjsl. Nat., vol. 1., f . 7 5 3 .- la l l., Ind. Orolll., vol. 11., p. 6 ffl._
Bvee, E ld s of E o i, vol. ill., p. 203.
TETRAO CANL'S. Kills. Fauna Skania.
LA GELINOTTE. Buff., Plan. Eukm., pi. 474, 475.
LA 6ELIN0TTB. Poulc des Coudriers, Cuv., Règ- Anim., vol. i., p. 448.
TETRAS GELINOTTE. Liun., Pig. ct Gall., vol. iii., p. 174.
TETRAO BETULINUS. Scop. Anu., i.. No. 172.—Gmel., Syst, Nat., vol. i., p. 749,—Latli., Ind. Ovnith., vol. ii., p. 637.
BIRCH GROUSE. Lath., Syn., iv., p. 735, 5.
HAZEL HEN. Will, Birds (Aug.), p. 175.
BONASIA EUROPiEA. Gould, B. of Eur„ pi. 251.
BONUISIA SYLVESTRIS. Bon., Rev. Ornith. Ear., p. 174.
BONASA SYLVESTRIS. Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. iii.—Ib., Cat. Birds, Brit. Mus., Part, m. , p. 40 (1844).—Bon., Gcog. and Comp. List
Birds, p. 43, No. 292.—Steph. Sliaw, Gcu. Zool, xi. (1819).—Elliot, Proc. Acad. Nat. Scie». (1864).
The Hazel Grouse is the only representative of this genus found in the Old World, I t is pretty generally distributed throughout
Buvops and Asia, it. rang, .xtnnding from P.an.o on 11. 5V..I, Ihrongl S.v.d.n, Noinvay, and B.rmany, . . far as tho Kiv.r l . n a In
Siberia, and, according to Dr. Schrcnck in bis recent “ Rciscii und Porsclinngcn in Amur Land," it is common a
from the soutliorn coast of tho Okhotsk Sea to the Bay of Iladschi, and also in the island of Saghalicn, a;
t all seasons of the year
is from the mouth of the
Amoor to its som-ce in Duaria. In Great Britain it is not found. I t frequents the birch and pic
tivcs, is partial to the sides of hills and mountains.
1 forests, and, like its American relauds
The species is monogamous, and does not, I believe, possess tho peculiarity of dnimining, like on
two particulars lie the principal diircrcnccs in their habits. They rise from the ground with the s
of this genus; and in these
a loud whirring noise, but tbcir
tho males keeping by tbeinselvos
The usual number of eggs is ton, of a
flight is not generally continued to any great distance.
Tlio bvceiUiig season commences in April, and the sexes separate as soon as incubation c
leaving tlio brood to the care of the female, but returning when the young are about half gro
yellowish color spotted with brown. Their flesh, like all of this genus, is white and tender, and is generally considered among the most
delicate of the Gronse family.
The Hazel Grouse is rather a small bird, approaching nearest iu size to onr B. Umbclloiiles, and is destitute of the ruff so conspicuous
in all the other species. In Broc's “ Birds of Europe," in tho article upon this species, is a translation from Dr. Sclircuok's work above
mentioned, a portion of whicli I take the liberty of insci'tiug hero ;
“ » * * * Scarcely any locality can be luiraed where it is not found, yet it appeals principally in the north of tho Amoor, on the
bordcis of rivets in the mixed forests of birch, aspen, poplar, alder, and willow bushes, and in the south principally in the light-foliagcd
woods and the underwood ivliich grows along the rocky banks of the rivers. Not unfrequcntly, also, I have met ivitli it, in winter and
summer, on the willow-grown islands, or on such shores as those of tho Amoor, Gorin, and Ussari. In as great numbers did I And the
Hazel Gronse in tlio wildest parts of the Amoor Laud, whore it was by no means shy. In the Nikolajev Posten, and on the River Tyrny,
in Saghalien, I have been able to shoot several times at a pair of individuals in a troc before the otiici's flew away. In Saghalien, and on
tho Gorin, they flew up before us, and kept in a circuit round about as. In summer, when the noise of our movements roused them,
they often settled down on a tree close by tho river, enabling as to shoot them from onr biding places. Tlicy were among the daily
contents of onr game bag in tho Amoer Land, whore, as well as in the Bay of ITadsclii and the snow fields of Saghalien, they gave us as
good sport as in the light and sunny oak hedges on the Ussuil. In the summer of 1855 I found a nest with eggs on the bordera of the
Ltike of Kidsi. I t was in a fir wood, a t the foot of a tree, concealed in tho moss and bnishwood. The eggs were of the usual dark
yellow, with many broivii spots and points, and were hatched on the 14tli of June. On the 28th of July I met with a family just
fledged at Paclmlo, near the month of the Gorin, in tho leafy underwood of a pine forest. The moulting of the Hazel Grouse takes
place a t Nikolajev Poston in August and September. On the 23d of August I found the moulting far advanced, and every wing and tail
feather freshly grown. It was quite concluded on the 1st of October.”