. Natural history of birds, fish, insects, and reptiles . n is pretty nearly hke the cock^ but less^and wants the curious colours with which heis adorned in her tail. Her head, neck, breast,back, and wings, are Hke his. But what isremarkable, the hen has upon her rump thesame figures that so agreeably beautify thecocks tail : her tail is green, with some littlemixture of blue: the hen likewise differs fromthe cock in her belly, which is quite black. THE GROUS AND ITS AFFINITIES. BESIDES the Cock of the Wood, theBlack Cock, the Grous, and the Ptarmigan,there are at least fifteen species which b
. Natural history of birds, fish, insects, and reptiles . n is pretty nearly hke the cock^ but less^and wants the curious colours with which heis adorned in her tail. Her head, neck, breast,back, and wings, are Hke his. But what isremarkable, the hen has upon her rump thesame figures that so agreeably beautify thecocks tail : her tail is green, with some littlemixture of blue: the hen likewise differs fromthe cock in her belly, which is quite black. THE GROUS AND ITS AFFINITIES. BESIDES the Cock of the Wood, theBlack Cock, the Grous, and the Ptarmigan,there are at least fifteen species which belongto this genus, and the whole of them are dis-tinguishable from every other of the poultrykind, by having a naked skin of a scarlet colourabove each eye. It appears from tradition, thatformerly they were very common in England,and which, in reality, might have been thecase, when a great part of the country wascovered with heath, which is their natural re-treat ; but since cultivation has so much in-creased, they are scarcely to be found in any other. mackCccA OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 215 other places^ but the extensive wastes and moorsof Westmoreland, and the north of Great Bri-tain ; indeed the two first are unknown in thesouth, having taken refuge in the northernparts of Scotland, where they find shelter andsecurity in the extensive heaths and forests. The cock of the wood is almost the size ofa turkey, and often weighs nearly fourteenpounds ; but the female is much smaller. Thehead and neck are ash-colour, crossed withblack lines; the body and wings chesnutbrown, and the breast of a very glossy black-ish green. The legs are strong, and coveredwith brown feathers. The plumage of the fe-male differs, being red about the throat, andhaving the head, neck, and back crossed withred and black bars; the belly barred withorange and black, with the tips of the featherswhite, as are also the tips of the shoulders; in-deed, she is altogether so very different, thatshe might be supposed t
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