New World under the appellation of the Prairie Hen and Heath Hen. The female
differs from the male in being smaller, in the colours of its markings being lighter,
and in the ruff being composed of smaller feathers ; the ruff in the male is entirely
black, in the female it is dark brown with' some rufous tinge. The figure, published
by Edwards, is probably that of a female; the Grosse Gelinote de Canada of the
Planches Enluminées is intended for the Ruffed Grouse, but is a miserable resemblance.
This bird was described by early Ornithological writers under two different names,
which error may be thus traced. Brisson described and figured the Grosse Gelinote
de Canada correctly, and not considering that Edwards’s Ruffed Grouse (of which he
judged by the defective figure), could be the same bird, he introduced it into his
Règne Animal, as the Gelinote Hupèe de Pennsylvanie. Linnæus adopted these as two
species, making the first T.Togatus, and the other T. Umbellus. Latham, in following
Linnæus, called the T. Togatus, the Shoulder-knot Grouse, and the T. Umbellus, the
Ruffed Grouse ; in the Supplement to his Synopsis, he retracted the opinion of their
specific difference, and in his Index applied the former specific name to the female,
and the latter to the male bird, but has strangely confounded and misarranged the
synonyms in separating the sexes. M. Cuvier, in his Règne Animait has considered
the T. Cupido and T. Umbellus as the same bird, a strange mistake.
Tetrao Phasianellus. Sharp-tailed Grouse.
This bird is probably confined to Canada, and the northern parts of the New World,
since specimens are not usually received from the more southern provinces ; nor does
it appear to have been at all observed by Wilson. Little reliance should be placed
on the statement by. Ed wards, that it is found in Virginia; Dr. Mitchel, whose
authority is given for this, made the observation oh a view of Edwards’s drawing,
which he might have mistaken for a Ruffed Grouse, which bird is an
inhabitant of Virginia. The bird now under consideration is well known and
common. in the neighbourhood of the Hudson’s Bay settlements, where it is
called the Pheasant, or Sharp-tailed Grouse ; this, latter name is much more
appropriate, than Long-tailed Grouse, which it received from Edwards. The taij
is really short, but the two middle feathers, exceeding the others about an inch
in length, give a pointed appearance to that part, which is peculiar and characteristic.
Edwards first brought the bird into notice,-but his figure is a very
bad resemblance of it. The Sharp-tailed . Grouse are noticed ; by Hearne, and
described by Forster ; they are found both in the woods and in the plains, and
are called by the natives of the northern parts of America Au-kis-kow. Linnæus, in
the 10th edition of the Systerna Natures, called this bird the T. Phasianellus, founding
the species on the figure and description of Edwards ; in the twelfth edition of the same
work, he made it a variety of his T. Urogallus ; subsequent experience has proved
that the first opinion was correct, and Phasianellus remains the established specific
name. There is no difference observable between the sexes, but the summer plumage
is brighter and darker than the winter- Specimens in both states were received,
the latter from Cumberland-House, the former from the neighbourhood of York
Factory.
Tetrao Saliceti. White Grouse.
The differences between the species of Grouse which assume white plumage in
winter, have been very imperfectly understood until lately; it is not, therefore,
extraordinary that in the accounts of these birds, particularly in those of early
writers, the descriptions should have been incorrectly referred to the different
species, more especially as the three kinds which are now known, are all in some
instances inhabitants of the same countries. The species now before us takes
precedence, on account of its size, by which, and the following peculiarities, it
is distinguished. In summer its colour is dark .chestnut, with little marking of
other colour on the breast, and generally with less of the white and black spots,
and undulating lines, which vary and cross the feathers of the others; it is without
any black line of feathers from the bill to the eye, so that in winter, with the exception
of the tail and the shafts of the wing-feathers, it is entirely white; the bill
is short, strong, and black, and the claws, which in the other two species are black,
in this are white; the legs and feet are thickly covered in winter with feathers,
which have some resemblance to the hair of quadrupeds. The remarkable property
which these birds, in common with some others, possess, of doubling each feather,
is well known to naturalists; from the base of the shaft of all the feathers which
cover the bodies of the birds, there proceeds, on the under side, a small, but perfect
feather, of a downy softness, which is in this case no doubt a provision of nature to
protect them from the inclemency of the winter to which they are exposed. The
White Grouse, of the countries round Hudson’s Bay, are inhabitants of the plains,
where bushes of willows abound, on the buds of which they support themselves;
from this circumstance they have acquired the appellation of Willow Grouse,
or Partridges, among the settlers, as well as the present specific name given by M.
Temminck, in preference to that of Albus, by which the species was designated
by Linnaaus. It is the Lagopede de la Baie de Hudson of Buffon. Hearne has
given a good account of these birds, and states them to be most abundant in the
parts of North America which he visited. Specimens, in perfect white plumage,
or with very few coloured feathers, are frequently received from Hudson’s Bay,
but are of rare occurrence in the summer dress. The bird was figured by Edwards
under the name of the White Patridge, but his specimen was only partially white,
being in a state of change. Forster, who received it amongst the collection he
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