Note 325 — NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN. (continued 2)

The Pheasant of Morton and other early writers has been supposed by ornithologists to be the Prairie Hen or Pinnated Grouse (Cupidonia cupido), a species which, however, has dark not “white flesh,”—“formerly ... so common on the ancient busky site of the city of Boston, that laboring people or servants stipulated with their employers, not to have the Heath-Hen brought to table oftener then a few times in the week.” (Nuttall’s Ornithology, vol. i. p. 800.) There is good evidence that this bird once ranged over a large part of Southern New England; it is still found on Martha’s Vineyard, where it is carefully protected and is not uncommon. Elsewhere it does not now occur much to the eastward of Illinois.