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American Oyster-Catcher — Part 2
Images coming soon.
PART III
GALLINACEOUS GAME BIRDS
Bob Whites
Grouse
Turkeys
GALLINACEOUS GAME BIRDS
(Order Gallinoe)
Birds that scratch the ground for food, the progenitors of our barn-yard fowls, the game birds par excellence of the sportsman, none are more interesting either from his point of view or from that of the bird student, or of greater commercial value. Certain structural peculiarities are noticeable throughout the group: a greatly enlarged esophagus, now called a crop, receives the bolted food and moistens it, leaving to a very thick, hard gizzard (except in the sage cock) the work of grinding the food with the help of gravel swallowed with it. Usually heavy in body, round breasted, small of head, stout of legs and feet, sometimes with spurs on the former, richly, if often quietly, plumed, the appearance of these birds is too familiar to be enlarged upon. They are prolific layers, and raise large broods, that follow the mother like chickens, as soon as hatched, one or more families composing a covey or bevy soon after the nesting season.
Bob Whites, Grouse, etc.
(Family Tetraonidoe)
Of the two hundred species contained in this great family, one-half belong to the Old World, where they are known as partridges and quail, names miscellaneously applied to our grouse and Bob Whites, that differ greatly in structure from their European allies, and the source of endless confusion in the popular mind. Three subfamilies go to make up this large family: the Perdicinoe, or Old World partridges and quail; the Odontophorinoe, or New World partridges and Bob Whites; and the Tetraoninoe, or grouse. These fowl-footed birds have the hind toe raised above the ground, differing from the pigeon-footed gallinaceous birds, that have four toes on the same level; and the grouse have feathered legs, like many birds of prey, to keep these parts from being frozen, since they frequent high altitudes. None of these American species is migratory, yet their rapid, whirring flight, performed with quick strokes of small, concave, stiffened wings, is well sustained, and sometimes for long distances. The heads of grouse especially, high at the rear to contain the unusually developed brain, indicate that rare degree of intelligence among birds which so taxes the wits of the sportsman; but certainly the Bob White is not lacking in mental calibre. The latter birds are devoted lovers and parents, whereas grouse are generally polygamous, and the males are either indifferent to the eggs and young, or, in some cases, destructive of them. Mr. D. G. Elliot remarks: "It is a rather singular fact that in most polygamous species the plumage of the sexes is very dissimilar, while there is usually but little difference observable between those that are monogamous."
Bob White, or Quail.
Dusky, or Blue Grouse.
Canada Grouse, or Spruce Partridge.
Ruffed Grouse, or Partridge.
Canadian Ruffed Grouse.
Gray Ruffed Grouse.
Oregon, or Red Ruffed Grouse.
Prairie Chicken, or Pinnated Grouse.
Prairie Sharp-tailed Grouse.
Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse.
Sharp-tailed Grouse.
Sage Grouse, or Cock of the Plains.
Pheasants and Turkeys)
(Family Phasianidoe)
A group of magnificent birds, including the peacock, pheasants, and the jungle fowl, the progenitors of our domestic poultry. From the Mexican turkey, now imported all over the world, and into France and England since the sixteenth century, came the race that furnishes our Thanksgiving feasts. Wild Turkey.
BOB WHITES, GROUSE, ETC.
(Family Tetraonidoe)