Elliott Coues
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 134
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1868 edition. Excerpt: ... become acceptable to it; but it has hardly as yet had an opportunity for the cultivation of a taste for these productions. In early spring it feeds very extensively on the tender, fresh buds of young willows; and then the salicine in these communicates more or less of a bitter flavour to the flesh, just as, in Labrador, I have found the flesh of the Canace canadensis and Lagopus albus greatly injured in flavour by the resinous buds on which they feed during spring and summer. I have heard three distinct notes from Lophortyw gambeli, and only three, though there may be more. The first is the common cry, uttered on all occasions of alarm, or to call or keep a bevy together. It is a single, mellow, clear " chink," with somewhat of a metallic resonance, quickly repeated an indefinite number of times. I may remark, by the way, that it is so exactly similar to the common note of Guiraca melanocqzkala, that I have been more than once deceived. The next kind is a clear, loud, energetic whistle, resembling, to my ear, the syllables " killink, kill link." This is chiefly heard during the pairing-season, when the male in some secluded spot is busy paying his addresses to and trying to win the favour of his chosen partner. It is analogous to the " bob-white " that has earned for Ortyw virginianus its popular appellation. The last note is the " song " proper of the species, though, if song it be called, it is so entirely upon the principle of laws a non lucendo; for anything more unmusical can hardly be imagined. It is uttered, I believe, only by the male, and only, I am also of opinion, when the female is incubating, or attending to a very young brood. At sunrise and sunset the song is cheerfully...
