Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/286

 272 GROUSE and tarsi naked in their lower half. The sexes are nearly alike. It is reddish brown or chest- nut above, varied with lighter heart-shaped spots and streaks of light brownish yellow ; below, whitish, with transverse bars of dull brown; tail tipped with gray, with a subter- minal bar of black. The length is 18 in., and the extent of wings 2 ft. ; it is found in the eastern states and Canadas, and probably as far as the Rocky mountains. The species of the Pacific coast,- darker and with a longer middle toe, has been described as the B. Sdbinii. The ruffed grouse prefers wooded regions, where evergreen trees and streams abound. They are rather solitary, usually seen in pairs or single, and fond of frequenting travelled paths; the males make a peculiar drumming sound, standing upon a log, inflating the body, and b'eating the air with short and quick strokes of the wings ; this is most commonly heard in the morning and evening, but also at all times of the day. The nest is built on the ground, early in May, and the eggs, 9 to 15, are clear brownish white ; the female, like other birds of the family, exhibits signs of great distress when her young brood are approached, and makes use of various well known stratagems to lead the intruder from the spot. The flight is vigorous, and accompanied by a loud whir- ring noise ; they are easily hunted with a good dog, generally betaking themselves to a tree ; they are taken in traps and snares set in their favorite paths ; in severe winters they are often -found frozen under the snow, into which they dive for protection, a crust having formed above them. Their flesh is excellent, and in best condition in autumn, when the partridge ber- ries impart a peculiar aromatic flavor ; in win- ter they are sometimes forced to eat the tender buds of the laurel, and then their flesh may possess poisonous properties so strong as to cause death in delicate persons. The willow or white, the rock, the white-tailed, the Ameri- can, and the red grouse of Europe, belong to the genus lagopus (Briss.), and will be described under PTARMIGAN. The sand grouse (pterocles, Temm.) represents the family of tetraonidcB in the sandy deserts of Asia and Africa, and in some of the bare rocky plains of southern Russia. Their very long and pointed wings, with the first and second quills the longest, enable them to traverse vast distances with an ease and rapidity unnecessary in birds of the moor and forest; their bodies are light and slender, and the tail large and wedge-shaped ; the tarsi robust, long, covered with feathers in front and on the inside ; the short and stout toes, united at the base by a prominent mem- brane, enable them to run lightly over the soft sand. Their prevailing colors are shades of brown, gray, and ochreous yellow, like that of the deserts in which they live. The banded sand grouse (P. arenarius, Pall.), found occa- sionally in Europe, has the belly deep brown- ish black, with a spot of the same on the throat and a band on the breast ; the female is paler, GROVE without the patch on the throat. The food consists of seeds, bulbs, and insects ; the nest is made upon the ground, and the eggs are only Banded Sand Grouse (Pterocles arenarius). four or five in number. The grouse are polyga- mous, and very tyrannical in their gallinaceous harems ; after the short love season the males desert the females and lead a solitary life, car- ing for neither mate nor progeny. The name of partridge cannot properly be given to any grouse ; the genus perdix (Briss.), and indeed the whole family of perdicince, are not found in America ; the term is equally inapplicable to the quail family. GROUSSET, Paschal, a French communist, born in Corsica about 1845. He is the son of the president of a college, and early went to Paris to study medicine, but became a journalist, and eventually joined Rochefort in the Marseillaise and wrote for the Revanche, a Corsican journal. Prince Pierre Bonaparte having challenged Rochefort for articles which Grousset had writ- ten, the latter sent Victor Noir and Ulrich de Fonvielle as his seconds to the prince, by whom Noir was killed, Jan. 10, 1870. The prince was tried and acquitted, and Grousset was arrested and fined for his violent articles in the Marseil- laise. He became director of that journal after the proclamation of the republic, Sept. 4, but suspended its publication in consequence of Rochefort's disavowal of its tendency. The fiercest of the various journals which he next edited was La Bouche de Fer. He became the foreign minister of the central committee after the insurrection of March 18, 1871, and on being elected to the commune he continued to hold the same position, and in April became member of the new executive commission. He was arrested on June 3, disguised in the attire of his mistress, betrayed by his bearing, which had made him conspicuous as the most fashionable member of the commune. He was transported to New Caledonia in 1872, but es- caped in March, 1874. GROVE, Sir William Robert, an English physi- cist, born in Swansea, July 14, 181 1. He gradu- ated at Oxford in 1833, was called to the bar in 1835, and from 1840 to 1847 was professor of natural philosophy at the London institution. In 1853 he was made queen's counsel, and af- terward vice president of the royal society. His scientific researches have been chiefly in