Guinea-fowls, Partridges, and Quails, somewhat whistling in _Polyplectron_ and _Tetrastes_, and generally consists of two or more syllables; but in view of subsequent details, it is sufficient to particularize the "cok-cok-cok" of the Grouse, the crow of the Pheasant and the Cock, the cluck and cackle of the Hen, the scream of the Peacock, and the gobble of the Turkey. The food is chiefly vegetable, and includes shoots, buds, leaves, grass, bulbs, seeds, berries and other fruits, with a certain amount of grit; but worms, molluscs, ants and their cocoons, insects and their larvae, swell the list. Juniper twigs or berries are supposed to give a flavour to the Hazel Grouse, pine tips to the Capercaillie, whereas the "Sage-brush" of America (_Artemisia tridentata_) bestows its name upon the Sage-cock (_Centrocercus_), and makes its flesh bitter and unpleasant. The Pheasant scratches in the ground for provender, as do Turkeys and Fowls, while _Lophophorus_, _Catreus_, _Crossoptilon_, _Gennaeus_, _Pavo_, and so forth, dig for roots with the bill. American Grouse, after eating _Kalmia_ shoots, are actually poisonous. Pugnacious habits are prevalent in the Family, and naturally attain their height in the courting season; but chief of all in this connection is the genus _Gallus_, which will fight at any time of year, being highly valued by the boatmen of Burma for the sport it provides. These wanderers commonly keep a cock tied by the leg in their vessels, or possess a decoy-bird to attract its wild relatives. Game-birds are easily naturalized or domesticated owing to their terrestrial habits; they hybridize readily even in a state of nature, the offspring being often fertile; such species, moreover, as the Pheasant, Partridge, and Red-legged Partridge will frequently use a nest in common. Occasionally the female assumes a plumage like that of the male; for example, in the Pheasant, where such individuals are called "Mules," and are stated to be barren. Further questions of great interest are the moult, the Grouse disease, the shedding of the claws in the Ptarmigan, and of the horny fringes of the toes in the {204}Tetraoninae generally, besides such points as the loss of the Peacock's train in summer, and the innumerable phases of plumage of the Red Grouse, Ptarmigan, and "Bob-white" (_Ortyx_), none of which can be usefully discussed in a limited space.