The ruffed grouse (or "partridge") is the most common of game birds, but woodcock, ducks and geese are quite common.
A little armadillo, the mulita, is the living representative of the antediluvian giants Mylodon, Megatherium, &c. The ostrich-Rhea americana-roams everywhere in the plains; and there are a few specimens of the vulture tribe, a native crow (lean, tall and ruffed), partridges and quails.
Of game birds the most characteristic is the partridge (ruffed grouse), exclusively a woodland bird; the Wilson's snipe and the woodcock are not uncommon in favourable localities, and several species of ducks are found especially in the bays and marshes near the coast during the seasons of migration.
Under the protection of a game commission which was created in 1895, of some game preserves which have been established by this commission, and of various laws affecting wild animals and birds, the numbers of Virginia deer, black bear, rabbits, ruffed grouse, quail and wild turkeys have increased until in some of the wilder sections they are quite plentiful, while the numbers of weasels, minks, lynx and foxes have been diminished.
The game birds include the ruffed grouse, quail and English pheasant (which have increased rapidly under protection), besides woodcock, snipe, many species of ducks and a few Canada geese.
