10 THE SFECIES^ITS TAXONOMY, RANGE, BIOLOGY, & ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE 



Classification* 



Among the birds of the world, the ruffed grouse belongs to the order Galliformes or fowl- 

 like birds which includes, among others, the domestic chicken, peacock, pheasant, quail and 

 turkey. Within this group it is a member of the family Tetraoiiidae or grouse-like birds 

 along with such forms as the ptarmigan, sage hen, Scotch grouse and black cock. It is the 

 sole living representative of the genus Bonasa and has been broken down into several sub- 

 species. 



Among the characters used in its classification"^ niav be mentioned the following. First, 

 the ruffed grouse possesses these features in common with other members of the Tetraonidae: 

 a completely feathered head, except a naked strip of skin over the eye; external nasal opening 

 feathered; tarsi feathered nearly to the toes on the upper side; spurs absent; sexes similar. 

 But it differs in having a dark umbrella-like ruff on either side of the neck with no obvious 

 bare space; soft, rounded "tail; lower surface of tarsi bare. 



Known to the red man from time immemorial, remains, in no way distinguishable from 

 the modern form, have been found among Pleistocene' deposits from caves in Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, Tennessee and California""'. Moreover Wetmore, in the same publication, suggests 

 that Bonasa ceres of Shufeldt"", from the fissure beds of Arkansas of the same geologic age, 

 may possibly be a synonym. 



But it will remain forever a riddle who was the first "paleface" to see a ruffed grouse. It 

 is possible one or another of the early navigators may have seen one before 1500. Certainly 

 Cartier encountered these birds in the St. Lawrence country in 1535. Very likely Hudson or 

 some of his crew observed them in what is now New York State in 1609. In any event, they 

 soon became familiar to the settlers, explorers, missionaries and couriers de bois who pene- 

 trated their range from the sixteenth century on. 



Nevertheless, it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that the bird was accord- 

 ed formal scientific recognition. In 1750 John Bartram, a settler in Pennsylvania, sent a speci- 

 men to Peter Colinson F.R.S. in England together with a letter telling something of its habits. 

 This material found its way into the hands of George Edwards who incorporated an account 

 of the bird, together with a colored plate under the name Ruffed Heath-cock or Grous, in his 

 "Gleanings of Natural History" which was published in London in 1758"'. As a result of 

 his account*, Linnaeus included the species in the 1766 edition of his "Systema Naturae""", 

 assigning it the binomial name Telrao Umbellus (referring to its umbrella-like ruff) which 

 has since been ado|)led as the starting point in its systematic classification. Thus this speci- 

 men, from somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania, became the type of the species. 



On the basis uf his limited material, Linnaeus |)hued the species in his genus Tetrao in 

 whicii he also iiK luded the spruce grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, heath hen and bobwhite quail, 

 as well as rtjany Old World species. But as knowledge increased, differences were recognized 

 and, in 1819, Stephens'^' proposed the genus Boiidsa^ for the niffcd grouse and the heath hen. 

 He failed, however, to select either as the t\ p<'. It thus remained for Gray'"" in 1840 to desig- 

 nate the former*. Similarly, each of the olhir North American members of Linnaeus' Telrao 

 has been ])la(ed in a se|)arate genus, although th<-v remain within the faniilv Tetraonidae, 

 except for the quail which have been removed to the family Perdicidae. 



• By Robert W. Darro». 



A See also iliNrintdion tititler Anutomy, p. 58. 



t The Pleiilocenc age of geologic time ended about 25,000 years ago, and it catimaled to bave covered a period of approiimately 



a million year*. 

 t Edwardi had piililiihr-d a previous account in 1754^"* dealing with Nome of the hnhila of the bird, but not inrluding a description. 

 § Lot. bonastis, s wild bull. 



• The heath hen lias been assigned to the genus Tympanuchtu. 



