Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/567

Rh we had got on board, the provision basket was called for, and was pro- duced by Master Bill, who, grinning from ear to ear, drew out of it two fine old Grous, and a whole covey of young ones, in all the exultation of one who had outwitted what he called his betters.

While at the harbour of Bras d'Or, I was told by persons who had resided in the country for many years, that, during the winter, when the snow covers the ground, and the Grous are obliged to scratch through it, in order to get at the mosses and lichens, they are so abundant that a hundred or more can be shot in a day, and congregate in flocks of immense numbers, now and then mixed with the smaller species, called there the Rock Grous, and which is the Tetrao rupestris. Their flesh is then salted for summer use. At that season they are of a pure white, except the tail, which retains its jetty blackness. I was further informed that their flesh is then dry, and not to be compared with what it is in summer, when I found it tender, and having an agreeable aromatic flavour.

The Willow Grous breeds in Labrador about the beginning of June. The female conceals her nest vmder the creeping branches of the low firs. It consists of bits of dry twigs and mosses drawn into a form. The eggs are from five to fourteen, according to the age of the bird, and are mar- bled with irregular spots of reddish-brown, on a dull fawn-colour or rufous ground. They raise only one brood in the season.

The pair represented in the plate, with their young, were procured by my friend George Shattuck, Esq. of Boston, one of my party, who shot the first pair found by us in Labrador. They were in their full summer plumage. I think these birds, as well as the Canada Grous, have what I call a continued moult, young feathers being found upon them at all seasons.

Tetrao Saliceti, Temm. Manuel d'Ornith. p. 471-

Tetrao (lagopus) Saliceti, Swains, and Richards. Fauna Boreali-Americ. part. ii. p. 351.

Willow Grous or Large Ptarmigan, Nuttall, Manual, part ii. p. 674.

Adult Male, in summer. Plate CXCI. Fig. 1.

Bill short, robust ; upper mandible with the dorsal outline curved, the edges overlapping, the tip declinate and rounded, the basal part with a deep sinus on each side, lower mandible convex, broad, with the tip rounded. Nostrils basal, roundish, concealed by the feathers. Head