Tetraonidæ.
The birds which compose this group are characterised as follows:—Tarsi completely feathered; a naked and knotty band of skin supplying the place of eyebrows; the body bulky; and the wings short. This family comprehends several species. The best known we enumerate:—The Cock of the Woods (Tetrao urogallus), the Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix), Cock of the Plains (Tetrao artimesia), the Pinnated Grouse (Tetrao Cupido), the Ruffed Grouse (Tetrao umbellus), the Hazel Hen, or Gelinotte (Bonasia europæa), and the Ptarmigan (Lagopus).
The Cock of the Woods, or Capercailzie (Tetrao urogallus), inhabits the pine and birch forests of northern hilly countries. They feed indifferently upon fruits, berries, the buds of fir and birch trees, insects and grubs—nothing, in fact, comes amiss to satisfy their appetites. Their bearing, which is proud and warlike, is supported by a robust form. Their plumage is black, spotted with white, and clouded, as it were, with bluish diaphanous shades. They are polygamous, and live together in families. They readily seek shelter in the trees, both for roosting and in order to conceal themselves from their enemies.
At the first breath of spring the male birds make the woods re-echo with the loud notes with which they summon the females to come to them. For an hour every morning and evening, for over a month, this practice is continued.
The females retire into the thick brushwood to build their nests and lay their eggs: here they devote themselves to incubation, and afterwards to rearing their offspring—cares which devolve upon them exclusively. They deposit from eight to sixteen eggs on a bed of grasses and leaves roughly interwoven. The young birds run about as soon as hatched, and remain for several months with the mother, who on all occasions watches them with the tenderest solicitude.
The flesh of the Cock of the Woods is juicy, but is esteemed more for its rarity; for the buds and leaves of the pines, which are its favourite food, give it a flavour of turpentine. In Scotland this species became extinct, but was restored by the Marquis of Breadalbane and others, who imported great numbers from Sweden. It is almost as large as a Turkey.
Fig. 159—Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix, Gray).
The Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix), [Fig. 159], is about the size of a Pheasant, and is distinguished by its tail, which in the cock is divided into two parts, with a curling notch, composed of four lateral feathers on each side, curving outwards.
The Cock of the Plains (Tetrao artimesia, Aud.), so called from frequenting and feeding on the sage that grows in profusion on the far-western prairies of America, is a noble bird, of handsome plumage. It is almost as large as a hen Turkey. Its numbers are rapidly diminishing.