I
The Black Game. Tetrao feu Urogallus minor.
Numb. XXII.
T S Length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail is 22 Inches ; its Breadth
■ when the Wings are extended, 36 Inches; its Weight 48 Ounces; ( this Bird I had
from Sir Robert Abdy out of Weftmoreland, from which generous Gentleman I have receiv’d
a great many curious Birds) it was all black, with a iliining blue Glois on the Edges of
the Feathers of the Neck and Back ; the Legs dark gray; the Toes pedinated on both
Sides. It had in each Wing 26 quill Feathers with 2 tranfverfe Bars of white, and a Spot
o f the fame on each Shoulder; the Tail was made up of 16 Feathers, the exterior of
which was near 7 Inches long, the interior do not exceed 4 Inches; the 3 exterior Feathers
are longer than the reft and bending outwards; the fourth on each Side fhorter and lefs
refledled; the Tail is of the fame Colour of the Body, only the Tips of a hoary white.
The Bill is black and crooked; the upper Chap fomewhat prominent and gibbous; under
the Tongue is a kind of a glandulous Subftancc; in the Pallet a Cavity impreffed equal
to the Tongue; the Tongue is undivided, foft and fomewhat rough. . . . ,
The Eye-brows are bare and red; the Ears large; the Legs rough and feathered on the
fore Part ; the Toes naked and conneded by a Membrane as far as the firft Joint; the
Claw of the middle Toe is on the infide thinned into an Edge; it had no Spurs.
Its Guts are Ci Inches long; its blind Guts 24 Inches ftriate with 6 Lines; the Craw
large and full of Ling or Heath, on the Tops of which they feed; the Pouts do a long
time accompany their Dams, even after they are come to their full Growth.
The Cocks of the black Game keep together and the Hens by themfelvcs, and are
feldom or never fecn together; their Time of feeding is the Morning and Evening, and
in the Middle of the Day they retire to the Woods, and fometimes perch on Trees.
They are frequent in' the mountainous Parts of Darbyjhtre, Weftmoreland, Cumberland
and moft of the Northern Parts of England and Scotland.
There is a large Species of this Kind in Norway, called Tteure, as large as a Bujtard; the
Head and Leg of which I received from my good Friend Mr. Boquet. It was all over
griflv black with a beautiful ihining green Glofs on the Edges of the Feathers on the
Neck and Breaft; and having all the other Charadenfticks belonging to the former. It
weighed 10 Pound, they are taken by the Boors in the inland and mountainous Parts
of Mufcovia, and brought down to Archangel, and fent as a choice Prefent to our Engltjh
Merchants.
A jriw m i //myra/du) m inor, , ¿otA, o r fa n y p .