There came PTARMIGANS, too, from the regions of

snow;

The COCK-OF-THE-WOOD was e'er ready to crow ;

feet eight or nine inches long; the male, which is considerably larger than the female, sometimes weighs fifteen pounds, more frequently seven or eight. The two sexes differ greatly in colour as well as in size. The head, neck, and back of the male is elegantly marked with slender lines of grey and black running transversely; the upper part of the breast is a shining green, the rest of the breast and belly black, mixed with some white feathers; tail black, with a few white spots. The femule is red on the throat; head, neck, and back, marked with bars of red and black; belly orange; tail ferruginous, barred with black; length twenty-six inches. Eggs from eight to sixteen, white spotted with yellow, larger than those of the domestic hen. Inhabits the mountainous and woody parts of Europe and Northern Asia, rarely found in this country. These birds, it is said, never pair, but the cock calls the females together by a peculiar cry which he makes perched upon a tree:

"And from the pine's high top brought down

The Giant Grouse, while boastful he display'd

His breast of varying green, and crow'd and clapp'd
His glossy wings."

GISBORNE'S Walks in a Forest-Spring. This bird differs from most of the other species of the genus in his predilection for woods, and in perching on trees. Feeds on the tops of the pine and birch, and also on juniper berries. Flesh, of course, good.

The Tetrix, BLACK-GROUSE, Black-Game, Black-Cock, HeathCock, Heath-Fowl, or Heath-Poult, is violet black, tail forked; several varieties; weighs sometimes four pounds; length twentythree inches. Female less than the male; her general colour ferruginous, barred and mottled with black, beneath paler. Eggs six or seven, dirty white, blotched with rust colour, size

The voice of the HEATH-COCK was heard loud and shrill; Many groups of RED-GROUSE, too, rose over the hill.

of those of a pheasant. Inhabits the mountainous and woody districts of England and Europe at large.

According to PENNANT this bird is remarkable for his exultation during the spring, when he calls the hen to his haunts with a loud and shrill voice, and is so inattentive to his safety as to be easily shot.

66

'High on exulting wing the Heath-Cock rose,

And blew his shrill blast o'er perennial snows."

ROGERS's Pleasures of Memory.

The Scoticus, RED-GROUSE, Red- Game, Moor-Cock, or GorCock, sixteen inches long, transversely streaked with rufous and blackish; six outer tail feathers on each side blackish. Colours of the female not so dark as the male. Eggs from eight to fourteen, like those of the Black-Grouse, but smaller. Inhabits extensive uncultivated wastes covered with heath in Wales, Yorkshire, and the Highlands of Scotland. Found in flocks of thirty or forty in the winter seasou.

"Sounds strange and fearful there to hear,

'Mongst desert hills where, leagues around,
Dwelt but the Gor-cock and the deer."

SIR WALTER SCOTT's Bridal of Triermain, Canto iii.

The Cupido, PINNATED-GROUSE, Heath-Hen, Prarie-Hen, Mountain-Cock, or Barren-Hen. The last name given to it in consequence of its being found on the wild tracts of America called barrens. This bird is the size of a pheasant; length nineteen inches; weighs three pounds and a half; plumage reddish brown, transversely barred with black and white waved lines; feathers of the head elongated into a crest; on each side of the neck a tuft of feathers; under the neck tufts, in the male, are two wrinkled bladders, which the bird can in

While the TAME-DUCKS, and DRAKES with their

collars of green,

Recurvate their tails, on the waters were seen.

flate; when distended they resemble a middle sized orange; toes naked, pectinated, pale brown. Found in Carolina, New Jersey, and other parts of North America, and particularly on the bushy plains of Long Island. Feeds on huckle berries, the acorns of the dwarf oak and other fruits, and insects. Eggs numerous; nest on the ground; flesh good. In September seen in flocks of two hundred or more. In the year 1791 an act was passed in the United States for the preservation of this bird, in which a fine of two dollars was imposed on any one killing it between the 1st of April and 5th of October. It is become, notwithstanding this act, in America (and it has been rarely, I believe, heard of elsewhere) a scarce and dear bird.

The Coturnix, or QUAIL, has the body spotted with grey; eye-brows white; tail feathers with a ferruginous edge and crescent; seven and a half inches long: another variety much larger. Inhabits the whole of the old world, but not, it is said, America. It is a bold bird, and used in China for fighting, as in this country are game cocks; and at Athens, formerly, quail fighting was as common as cock fighting is at the present time; it was also at Rome a common diversion; it is said, indeed, that in the time of Augustus a prefect of Egypt was punished with death for having served up at an entertainment one of these birds which had acquired celebrity from its victories! It is a migratory bird, appearing in England the beginning of May, and leaving it in October; a few, however, are said to remain throughout the winter; feeds on green wheat and in stubbles; calls nearly all night; the males are taken by imitating them. Eggs eight or ten whitish, laid like the partridge on the ground; they are occasionally blotched with dusky; they are said to lay many more eggs than ten in Italy. Quails are seen in vast flocks in various places contiguous to the Mediterranean Sea

The bright CITRINEL* cried " Willy winky" aloud; The TURNSTONE and KNOT made a part of the crowd; SEA-SWALLOWS, SEA-CROWS, and some SHearWATERS came;

And many more SEA-BIRDS not known unto fame.

during their migration. Thousands have been taken in a day in the kingdom of Naples.

The Virginianus, or VIRGINIAN-QUAIL, is rather less than the common partridge; it inhabits the woods of America, and perches on trees.

The Kakelik has the bill, eye-brows, and legs, scarlet; size of a pigeon; is named from its note Kakelik; inhabits China.

The Major, GREAT-TINAMOU, or Great-Partridge, has a yellow body, legs yellowish brown; bill black, back and tail with black spots; eighteen inches long; roosts on the lowest branches of trees; feeds on worms, insects, and fruits; builds twice ayear, and lays from twelve to fifteen eggs; inhabits the woods of South America. Note a dull kind of whistle, which may be heard a great way off; the natives imitate it to decoy them.

The above birds are all more or less excellent food, and known by the general term Game. Many of the tribe are extremely pugnacious, particularly the grouse, partridges, and quails; this arises most probably from the fact that the males are generally more numerous than the females. Some of this genus of birds in cold climates vary in plumage exceedingly du ring the summer and winter months.

Emberiza Citrinella, or YELLOW-Hammer, (see Note 20), one of the few birds to which in this work a new name is given, and this is here done from the intractable nature of the old one. Some of our naturalists have described the song of the yellowhammer as being composed of only six or seven notes, but it is very often many more than six. They are uttered with considerable rapidity, the penult being dwelt upon with much emphasis, "Willy willy, willy willy, willy willy, wink-ky.”

*

There were GAN NETS, too,-Kilda's prime, staple

support;

And some SHAGS* that on ocean delight oft to sport.
With recurvate and flexible beak ting'd with jet,
Appear'd, too, the Scooper, yclept AvoSET (37).
The PIGEONS DOMESTIC in large circles soar;
While the Cock and HEN sought out the granary door:
In VARIETY there seen, a numerous tribe,

Whom pen or whom pencil could scarcely describe;
Pugnacity ever their prominent trait,-

Which young and which old, all observant, obey.

(37) Order, GRALLÆ, (Linn.) AVOSET, the SCOOPING, the AMERICAN, the WHITE.

The genus RECURVIROSTRA, (Linn.) or AvoSET, consists of four species, distinguished by a depressed, subulate, recurved bill; pointed, flexible at the top; feet palmate. The chief are the following.

The Avocetta, AVOSET, SCOOPING-AVOSET, Butter-flip, Scooper, Yelper, Picarini, Crooked-bill, or Cobler's-awl, is varie gated with white and black; length eighteen inches; bill black, recurved at the point, flexible like whalebone; toes webbed about half their length; feeds on worms and marine insects, which it scoops out of the mud or sand, eggs two, white tinged with green, and marked with large black spots, size of a pigeon's. Inhabits southern Europe, and found also in this country.

The Americanus, or AMERICAN-AVOSET, has the back black, beneath white; seventeen inches long; inhabits North America and New Holland.-The Alba, or WHITE-AVOSET, is white, wing coverts brownish; bill orange; fourteen inches and a half long; inhabits Hudson's Bay.

* See Part II. for a description of both Gannets and Shags, under the genus Pelecanus.