1 



The Bird Itself 



CLASSIFICATION, NOMENCLATURE 



Bonasa umhellus (Linnaeus)/ the ruffed grouse, belongs to the 

 great, almost cosmopolitan order Galliformes. Four families of this 

 order are found in North America, the Cracidae, Tetraonidae, 

 Phasianidae, and Meleagrididae— respectively the curassows, guans, 

 and chachalacas; the grouse and ptarmigan; the pheasants and New 

 World quail; and the turkeys. The family to which the ruffed grouse 

 belongs, the Tetraonidae, is represented by seven genera and eleven 

 species on the North American continent. 



The generic name Bonasa, derived from the Greek Bovayn^ and 

 Latin Bonasus (classical nouns meaning "a bison") embodies the 

 idea of a bison's bellowing, hence that of a ruffed grouse's drum- 

 ming. The zoologist Stevens, who named the genus in Shaw's Gen- 

 eral Zoology in 1810, may never have seen a living ruffed grouse, but 

 he obviously had heard of its courtship performance. The specific 

 name, umhellus, is a Latin word meaning an umbel or umbrella. 

 It is descriptive of the bird's striking ruffs. The genus Bonasa is 

 found only in North America (in the United States and Canada) 

 and has but one species. 



The accepted common name is ruffed grouse. However, the bird is 

 known colloquially by many other names, some of which occasion 

 considerable confusion with other species. The various Indian tribes 

 called it by many names, including: Wen'-gi-da-bi-ne' or Pinai 

 (Chippewa); paupock ( Narragansett ) ; papahcogh (Mohican); cut- 

 quass ( Pequot ) ; ohquase ( Oneida ) ; pabhackoo or mimituiis ( Dela- 

 ware); Mutch-i-es'— "Bad Bird" because in old times he was mede- 

 oulin, had magic power, and plotted against Gluskap, according to 

 old stories— (Malecite, in New Brunswick); Pul-o-wetch (Micmac); 

 Ajack, Puskee, or Pupuskee (Algonquian around Hudson Bay); Kh- 



^ A.O.U. Check List No. 300. 



